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Optics Express

Optical encryption and QR codes: Secure and noise-free information retrieval

John Fredy Barrera, Alejandro Mira-Agudelo, Roberto Torroba

Published Feb 25, 2013• 194 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We introduce for the first time the concept of an information "container" before a standard optical encrypting procedure. The "container" selected is a QR code which offers the main advantage of being tolerant to pollutant speckle noise. Besides, the QR code can be read by smartphones, a massively used device. Additionally, QR code includes another secure step to the encrypting benefits the optical methods provide. The QR is generated by means of worldwide free available software. The concept development probes that speckle noise polluting the outcomes of normal optical encrypting procedures can be avoided, then making more attractive the adoption of these techniques. Actual smartphone collected results are shown to validate our proposal.

DOI
10.1364/oe.21.005373

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We introduce for the first time the concept of an information "container" before a standard optical encrypting procedure. The "container" selected is a QR code which offers the main advantage of being tolerant to pollutant speckle noise. Besides, the QR code can be read by smartphones, a massively used device. Additionally, QR code includes another secure step to the encrypting benefits the optical methods provide. The QR is generated by means of worldwide free available software. The concept development probes that speckle noise polluting the outcomes of normal optical encrypting procedures can be avoided, then making more attractive the adoption of these techniques. Actual smartphone collected results are shown to validate our proposal.
Abstract Coherent optical encryption procedures introduce speckle noise to the output, limiting many practical applications. Until now the only method available to avoid this noise is to codify the information to be processed into a container that is encrypted instead of the original data. Although the decrypted container presents the noise due to the optical processing, their features remain recognizable enough to allow decoding, bringing the original information free of any kind of degradation. The first adopted containers were the quick response (QR) codes. However, the limitations of optical encryption procedures and the features of QR codes imply that in practice only simple codes containing small amounts of data can be processed without large experimental requirements. In order to overcome this problem, we introduce the first tailor made container to be processed in optical cryptosystems, ensuring larger noise tolerance and the ability to process more information with less experimental requirements. We present both simulations and experimental results to demonstrate the advantages of our proposal.
The majority of contemporary optical encryption techniques use coherent illumination and suffer from speckle-noise pollution, which severely limits their applicability even when information encoded into special "containers" such as a QR code. Spatially incoherent encryption does not have this drawback, but it suffers from reduced encryption strength due to formation of an unobscured image right on top of the encrypted one by undiffracted light from the encoding diffraction optical element (DOE) in axial configuration. We present a new lensless encryption scheme, experimentally implemented with two liquid crystal spatial light modulators, that does not have this disadvantage because of a special encoding DOE design, which forms desired light distribution in the photosensor plane under spherically diverging illumination without a converging lens. Results of optical experiments on encryption of QR codes and successful information retrieval from decoded images are presented. Conducted analysis of encryption strength demonstrates sufficiently high key sensitivity and large enough key space to resist any brute force attacks.
We propose an optical security method for object authentication using photon-counting encryption implemented with phase encoded QR codes. By combining the full phase double-random-phase encryption with photon-counting imaging method and applying an iterative Huffman coding technique, we are able to encrypt and compress an image containing primary information about the object. This data can then be stored inside of an optically phase encoded QR code for robust read out, decryption, and authentication. The optically encoded QR code is verified by examining the speckle signature of the optical masks using statistical analysis. Optical experimental results are presented to demonstrate the performance of the system. In addition, experiments with a commercial Smartphone to read the optically encoded QR code are presented. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report on integrating photon-counting security with optically phase encoded QR codes.
Abstract Optical encryption is an actively developing field of science. The majority of encryption techniques use coherent illumination and suffer from speckle noise, which severely limits their applicability. The spatially incoherent encryption technique does not have this drawback, but its effectiveness is dependent on the Fourier spectrum properties of the image to be encrypted. The application of a quick response (QR) code in the capacity of a data container solves this problem, and the embedded error correction code also enables errorless decryption. The optical encryption of digital information in the form of QR codes using spatially incoherent illumination was implemented experimentally. The encryption is based on the optical convolution of the image to be encrypted with the kinoform point spread function, which serves as an encryption key. Two liquid crystal spatial light modulators were used in the experimental setup for the QR code and the kinoform imaging, respectively. The quality of the encryption and decryption was analyzed in relation to the QR code size. Decryption was conducted digitally. The successful decryption of encrypted QR codes of up to 129 × 129 pixels was demonstrated. A comparison with the coherent QR code encryption technique showed that the proposed technique has a signal-to-noise ratio that is at least two times higher.
In holographic encryption, double random-phase encoding in the Fresnel domain (DRPEiFD) is a prevalent encryption method because it is lensless and secure.However, noises bring adverse effects during decryption.In this letter, we introduce quick-response (QR) coding during encryption to resist noises.We transform the original information into a QR code and then encrypt the code as a hologram through DRPEiFD.To retrieve the input, we decrypt the hologram in the opposite manner to the encryption and subsequently obtain a QR code with noises.By scanning this code with proper applications in smartphones, we can obtain a noise-free retrieval.Numerical experiments and images scanned by a smartphone are shown to validate our proposed method.
The information protection systems based on optical processors, employing a double random phase mask encryption technique, allow data securely handling, but the recovery is not noise-free. Although the system security is provided by the optical processor enabling the information encoding, we demonstrate in this contribution that noise-free recovery is indeed possible by including the quick response coding, without altering the data protection process. The information to be protected is first converted into a quick response code or QR code, and then this code is optically encrypted. The decrypted QR code exhibits the usual noise produced by the random phase masks along with the involved opto-digital processing. Finally, when scanning the decrypted QR code we recover the original information without noise. We include the theoretical description of the optical processor, as well as we show experimental results that corroborate the validity and applicability of the security system.© 2015. Acad. Colomb. Cienc. Ex. Fis. Nat. All rights reserved.