Optoelectronic Physical Unclonable Functions and Reservoir-Inspired Computation with Low Symmetry Integrated Photonics

Emerging applications of photonics in computing, sensing,
and security
increasingly demand complex input–output behaviors, including
highly nonlinear transformations of optical signals. Traditional photonic
systems rely on highly structured components with symmetric geometries
and low-entropy modal responses to achieve predictable and analytically
describable behavior. To achieve expressive functionality, this paradigm
often requires large networks of fabrication-sensitive interferometers
or resonators and substantial hardware error correction to restore
deterministic operation. Here, we demonstrate an alternative paradigm
rooted in low-symmetry, disordered integrated photonic circuits, which
provide intrinsically enhanced modal diversity and spectral complexity,
enabling highly nonlinear transformations of input signals into information-rich
outputs. Our devices, physically unclonable moiré quasicrystal
interferometers integrated on a silicon photonics platform, exhibit
aperiodic and reconfigurable spectral responses and are characterized
by analyticity breaking and erasable mutual information. Using dynamic
thermo-optic control to drive their complex spectral dynamics, we
demonstrate that these devices function as reconfigurable physical
unclonable functions (rPUFs). We also highlight their ability to perform
high-dimensional input–output transformations, emulating reservoir-inspired
information processing in a compact photonic platform. This work bridges
the gap between engineered and natural complexity in photonic systems,
revealing new opportunities for scalable, energy-efficient, and information-dense
optoelectronics with applications in secure communications, hardware
security, advanced sensing, and optical information processing. Our
results establish low-symmetry integrated photonics as a powerful
resource for complex signal manipulation in photonic systems.