  We study the problem of indexing irreducible polynomials over finite fields,
and give the first efficient algorithm for this problem. Specifically, we show
the existence of poly(n, log q)-size circuits that compute a bijection between
{1, ... , |S|} and the set S of all irreducible, monic, univariate polynomials
of degree n over a finite field F_q. This has applications in pseudorandomness,
and answers an open question of Alon, Goldreich, H{\aa}stad and Peralta[AGHP].
  Our approach uses a connection between irreducible polynomials and necklaces
( equivalence classes of strings under cyclic rotation). Along the way, we give
the first efficient algorithm for indexing necklaces of a given length over a
given alphabet, which may be of independent interest.
