OPTIKEY™ Optical Authentication Verification - January 28, 2004

An optoelectronic verification system to resist counterfeiting offers an analog, not digital, solution .

In an increasingly digitized world, there is an estimated $300 billion per year product and security counterfeiting problem that is damaging businesses, affecting our national security and impacting the world’s economy. Prevailing methods of authentication such as electronic (RF) Smart Cards, DNA, holography and laser cards are no longer fool proof against sophisticated counterfeiters. Security ID cards or labels can be broken or “cracked” within a few days. With over 27 million Americans reporting identity theft in the past five years, the need for ID verification and authenticity technology with highly secure anti-counterfeiting measures is vital.

To establish an affordable, true and secure system for authentication, Physical Optics Corporation (POC, Torrance, CA) research engineers developed an analog-based design for an ID verification system called OptiKey. A fully analog, randomized and optically correlated system was selected over digital or visual inspection systems. Current methods of digital authentication are inherently vulnerable to replication and this point significantly weighted the digital format vs. analog format debate.

This optoelectronic verification system uses a correlated optical key in labels, ID cards, driver’s licenses, passports, CDs, DVDs and documents, rendering them impossible to counterfeit, copy or pirate successfully. It consists of a mass producible optical mask (ID label) and a perfectly matched optical reference mask located in the optoelectronic reader/correlator. The optical ID label is a randomly recorded optical surface structure, which is placed on labels/card and documents. For secure validation, the optical surface structure of the ID label must precisely match the optical reference mask in the correlator (Figure 1 – Optical Authentication Verification). The optical match is achieved through optical joint Fourier transform (Figure 2 – Joint Transform Correlator Design). The joint transform correlator matches two phase patterns (one reference and the other verified), then performs optical Fourier transform to generate the joint power spectrum. Subsequently, an inverse Fourier transform is performed to define the correlation peak. The positive correlation signature can be seen in Figure 3, which is a 2D intensity distribution of the optical mask (ID label) as compared to the optical reference mask found in the reader. Optical authentication can be achieved onsite without the need for a central database or human interaction.

Competing technologies in which ID veracity is checked by eyesight have no additional measures for true authentication. The development of the optical joint Fourier transform to correlate and verify the optical structure in the hardware (Reader) enables a real-time swipe system and meets the additional challenge of a cost-effective and practical mass production capability. Prior to this systems’ development, the optical joint Fourier transform was typically only demonstrated in the laboratory.

The system design consists of three critical elements: (1) The optical master which is a unique, one of a kind master with randomized, nonperiodic structures which contain the submicron optical signature; (2) a mass producible, optical mask (ID label) which contains the exact optical surface structure of the master; and (3) a perfectly matched optical reference mask (Reader/Correlator) taken from the same optical master. The integrity of the system is preserved through the recording of random coherent speckle patterns, at one precise moment in time. This creates a unique one of a kind optical master in which exact duplicate submasters can be produced with the matched randomized surface structures. A hard submaster is placed in the reader/correlator and a matched submaster is used in the mass production of optical mask (ID labels). If attempts are made to copy either the ID label or hard master the result will be a mismatch and will not correlate.

As an additional design feature, areas of the surface structure can be identified, thus creating a binary code. This feature can be used to carry information or create a secure code. Also designed into the system was the flexibility to work with and accommodate other authentication methods such as biometric systems.

The author, Rick Shie, is Senior Vice President for Physical Optics Corporation, 20600 Gramercy Place, Torrance, CA 90501. Email: RShie@aol.com, Ph: 310-320-3088, Fax: 310-320-5961
For more information, please visit www.poc.com

References: U.S. Patent Numbers 5,534,386; 5,922,238; 6,303,276; 5,485,312; and other patents.