Next-generation physical security devices exploiting 2D materials

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James' PhD project will explore the application of hybrid low-dimensional materials as hardware security devices for authentication and anti-counterfeiting. He will investigate whether unpredictable interactions between different systems can be used to produce robust, complex fingerprints, which can be optically read - to verify not only the identity of the reading, but also that it was produced by a low-dimensional system.The project entails the fabrication and characterisation of devices containing layers of direct-gap 2D materials with quantum dots and other nanoparticles. Techniques such as Langmuir-Blodgett, electrospray and drop-casting will be applied to produce few-layer films of these materials, and combinations of them. The structure of the devices' that are made will be informed by simulations, with an aim to maximise the optical emission intensity, as well as the sensitive to variations in the sample. Following optical measurements, the project will look at the suitability of the application of these devices as novel forms of physically unclonable functions (PUFs).The use of quantum materials in PUFs is nascent, with the concept having emerged from the group in which James is working. Research to date has focused on simple devices using a single material; the design and use of heterostructures to optimise performance in this project is entirely novel.The project combines physics and material science to target an important outstanding problem in cyber security. All of these disciplines fall within EPSRC's remit.