Session: 16-01-01: Government Agency Student Poster Competition

Paper Number: 149770

149770 - Information Encoding and Encryption in Acoustic Analogues of Qubits 

Introduction and motivation

I present a novel and secure cryptography approach using logical phi-bits, which are classical mechanical analogues of quantum bits (qubits) and are supported by externally driven acoustic metamaterials. Confidentiality and integrity of data, transactions, and communications are crucial forin both government and non-governmental organizations. Historically, this has been achieved through traditional cryptography techniques, which relying on mathematical algorithms and secret keys to convert data into unreadable formats, safeguarding against data breaches and unauthorized access. However, the advent of quantum computers poses a significant threat to the field of cryptography due to their remarkable computing speeds and ability to decipher many classical encryption algorithms currently in use. My mechanical approach overcomes these challenges by capitalizing on three characteristics: (a) the exponential scaling of the data string on which a message can be encoded, (b) the enormous number of ways to encrypt messages, and (c) the simplicity and speed of the system operation. 

Methodology

The mechanical system is comprised of an externally driven parallel array of three elastically coupled acoustic waveguides supporting nonlinear modes of vibration. The acoustic metamaterial is driven at two different frequencies. The nonlinear modes define logical phi-bits which are characterized by their frequency. That frequency is a linear combination of the driving frequencies. Each logical phi-bit possesses two degrees of freedom associated with the phase differences between the waveguides. The state of a logical phi-bit is represented as a vector on the Bloch sphere. The state vector of N phi-bits is the tensor product of each phi-bit state, which lies in a complex Hilbert space scaling exponentially as 2N. This large vector serves as a data string for encoding messages in its binary American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII) format. By changing the driving condition among many options, the state vector of the system changes rapidly, therefore leading to the encryption of data with exceptional speed and security. The decryption of this message requires the inverse of this operation on an identical mechanical platform.

Contribution and Results

I illustrate experimentally the practicality and effectiveness of encoding and encrypting the message “UA” using 5 logical phi-bits. The result not only shows an effective encryption scheme but also that this mechanical platform offers a robust approach to encryption, leveraging the rounding up of small deviations induced by differences in the sender’s and receiver’s systems. Evidently, this approach overcomes the quantum computing challenge because the probability of getting the exact message vector is 1 out of (2N!). This requires a prohibitively large computing power, especially if N is a large value. Finally, I emphasize the scalability of encoding and encrypting messages in larger data strings with the same processing time.

Presenting Author: Akinsanmi Ige The University of Arizona

Presenting Author Biography: Akinsanmi joined Prof. Pierre Deymier’s lab in the Fall of 2023 as a PhD student in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering. His research focuses on quantum information science using a mechanical platform, aiming to push the boundaries of quantum computing possibilities with classical mechanical metastructures. His understanding of basic physics concepts stems from his undergraduate studies in Physics in his home country, Nigeria.

Authors:

Akinsanmi Ige The University of Arizona
David Cavalluzzi The University of Arizona, Tucson
Ivan Djordjevic University of Arizona
Keith Runge University of Arizona
Pierre Deymier University of Arizona