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Optics Express

Optical encryption using photon-counting polarimetric imaging

David Maluenda, Artur Carnicer, Rosario Martínez-Herrero, Ignacio Juvells Prades, Bahram Javidi

Published Jan 12, 2015• 94 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We present a polarimetric-based optical encoder for image encryption and verification. A system for generating random polarized vector keys based on a Mach-Zehnder configuration combined with translucent liquid crystal displays in each path of the interferometer is developed. Polarization information of the encrypted signal is retrieved by taking advantage of the information provided by the Stokes parameters. Moreover, photon-counting model is used in the encryption process which provides data sparseness and nonlinear transformation to enhance security. An authorized user with access to the polarization keys and the optical design variables can retrieve and validate the photon-counting plain-text. Optical experimental results demonstrate the feasibility of the encryption method.

DOI
10.1364/oe.23.000655

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We present a polarimetric-based optical encoder for image encryption and verification. A system for generating random polarized vector keys based on a Mach-Zehnder configuration combined with translucent liquid crystal displays in each path of the interferometer is developed. Polarization information of the encrypted signal is retrieved by taking advantage of the information provided by the Stokes parameters. Moreover, photon-counting model is used in the encryption process which provides data sparseness and nonlinear transformation to enhance security. An authorized user with access to the polarization keys and the optical design variables can retrieve and validate the photon-counting plain-text. Optical experimental results demonstrate the feasibility of the encryption method.
The integration of photon-counting imaging techniques and optical encryption systems can improve information authentication robustness against intruder attacks.Photon-counting imaging generates distributions with far fewer photons than conventional imaging, and provides substantial bandwidth reduction by generating a sparse encrypted data.We show that photon-limited encrypted distributions have sufficient information for successful decryption, authentication and signal retrieval.Additional compression of the encrypted distribution is applied by limiting the number of phase values used to reproduce the phase information of the complex-valued encrypted data.The validity of this technique -with and without phase compression -is probed through simulated experiments for two types of input images: alphanumerical signs and dithered natural scenes.
The integration of photon-counting imaging techniques to optical encryption systems permits to increase information authentication robustness against intruder attacks. Photon-counting imaging generates distributions with only few photons and provides substantial bandwidth reduction by requiring only a sparse encrypted data. We show that photon-limited encrypted distributions have sufficient information for decryption, authentication and signal retrieval. Different approaches to compress the information on encrypted distributions are considered and analyzed.
Complex holographic schemes are usually required to obtain complex-valued encrypted images that are used for verification in previously proposed authentication approaches based on photon-counting imaging and double-random-phase encoding (DRPE). In this paper, we propose an optical information encryption and authentication system by integrating the classical optical DRPE with a modified iterative phase retrieval algorithm using 2-D median filtering. Only the intensity of the encrypted data needs to be recorded during the optical encryption process, and a private phase distribution is generated by combining iterative phase retrieval and 2-D median filtering. Sparse representation for the phase distribution, but not for a complex-amplitude distribution, is used for decryption and verification. Simulation results demonstrate the validity of the proposed approach.
We investigate a full phase based photon-counting double-random-phase encryption (PC-DRPE) method. A photon-counting technique is applied during the encryption process creating sparse images. The statistical distribution of the photon-counting decrypted data for full phase encoding and amplitude phase encoding are derived and their statistical parameters are used for authentication. The performance of the full phase PC-DRPE is compared with the amplitude-based PC-DRPE method. The photon-counting decrypted images make it difficult to visually authenticate the input image; however, advanced correlation filters can be used to authenticate the decrypted images given the correct keys. Initial computational simulations show that the full phase PC-DRPE has the potential to require fewer photons for authentication than the amplitude-based PC-DRPE.\nIn addition, 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.
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.
A simultaneous optical triple-image encryption and verification method based on sparse information strategy was proposed. The information of the encoded images could be integrated into a sparse representation. Only sparse (partial) data from the encrypted information were adopted for verification process. In sparse strategy, the partial data was extracted from the encrypted distribution. For complex-valued distribution, the sparse strategy was applied to the amplitude; thus, only the sparse amplitude pixels kept the phase data for verification process. Therefore, the proposed method can effectively facilitate optical information transmission and storage, as only part of the encrypted information was adopted. In addition, the simultaneous encryption and authentication verification of three images was achieved. The results proved that the proposed method was feasible and effective, and can provide an additional security layer for optical security systems. Moreover, the method that demonstrated secure optical triple-image can lead to a high flexibility and variety compared to that of photon counting technique which required a specific device.