A novel hierarchical image encryption system based on cascaded multiple-phase retrieval by an iterative Fresnel-transform algorithm is proposed. In this method a series of phase masks cascaded in free space is employed to retrieve different target hidden images in their corresponding hierarchical levels. It can realize different levels of accessibility to the secret data for different authority levels with the same system, and the higher level authority can get access to more hidden images. This approach can achieve fast convergence and high quality of the recovered images without any recognizable cross-talk noise or distortion, and the security level of this system is further enhanced by the use of a series of supplemental keys such as the orders of cascaded phase masks and the geometrical parameters in addition to all the iterated phase masks as principal keys. The feasibility of this method and its unique features are verified and analysed by computer simulations.
A novel hierarchical image encryption system based on cascaded multiple-phase retrieval by an iterative Fresnel-transform algorithm is proposed. In this method a series of phase masks cascaded in free space is employed to retrieve different target hidden images in their corresponding hierarchical levels. It can realize different levels of accessibility to the secret data for different authority levels with the same system, and the higher level authority can get access to more hidden images. This approach can achieve fast convergence and high quality of the recovered images without any recognizable cross-talk noise or distortion, and the security level of this system is further enhanced by the use of a series of supplemental keys such as the orders of cascaded phase masks and the geometrical parameters in addition to all the iterated phase masks as principal keys. The feasibility of this method and its unique features are verified and analysed by computer simulations.
A novel approach-multiple phase encoding for hierarchical security by use of a 4f optical system and iterative Fourier transform algorithm(IFTA) is presented,which is based on the methodology of virtual optics.Two or more phase masks produced by multiple IFTA are used in this hierarchical security system,in which different target images can be retrieved by use of different numbers of phase masks.The more numbers of phase masks the user has,the more images he can get.In addition to numbers of the phase masks,the sequential order of the phase masks is introduced to increase the system security.Simulation results are demonstrated to verify the proposed method.
As a typical technology for optical encryption, phase retrieval algorithms have been widely used in optical information encryption and authentication systems. This paper presents three applications of two-dimensional (2D) phase retrieval for optical encryption and authentication: first, a hierarchical image encryption system, by which multiple images can be hidden into cascaded multiple phase masks; second, a multilevel image authentication system, which combines (t, n) threshold secret sharing (both t and n are positive integers, and t ≤ n ) and phase retrieval, and provides both high-level and low-level authentication; and finally, a hierarchical multilevel authentication system that combines the secret sharing scheme based on basic vector operations and the phase retrieval, by which more certification images can be encoded into multiple cascaded phase masks of different hierarchical levels. These three phase retrieval algorithms can effectively illustrate phase-retrieval-based optical information security. The principles and features of each phase-retrieval-based optical security method are analyzed and discussed. It is hoped that this review will illustrate the current development of phase retrieval algorithms for optical information security and will also shed light on the future development of phase retrieval algorithms for optical information security.
A multiple-image authentication method with a cascaded multilevel architecture in the Fresnel domain is proposed, in which a synthetic encoded complex amplitude is first fabricated, and its real amplitude component is generated by iterative amplitude encoding, random sampling, and space multiplexing for the low-level certification images, while the phase component of the synthetic encoded complex amplitude is constructed by iterative phase information encoding and multiplexing for the high-level certification images. Then the synthetic encoded complex amplitude is iteratively encoded into two phase-type ciphertexts located in two different transform planes. During high-level authentication, when the two phase-type ciphertexts and the high-level decryption key are presented to the system and then the Fresnel transform is carried out, a meaningful image with good quality and a high correlation coefficient with the original certification image can be recovered in the output plane. Similar to the procedure of high-level authentication, in the case of low-level authentication with the aid of a low-level decryption key, no significant or meaningful information is retrieved, but it can result in a remarkable peak output in the nonlinear correlation coefficient of the output image and the corresponding original certification image. Therefore, the method realizes different levels of accessibility to the original certification image for different authority levels with the same cascaded multilevel architecture.
An optical image encryption method is proposed based on Fourier single-pixel imaging and iterated phase retrieval algorithm. First, a binary barcode image containing two groups of horizontal strips is randomly generated and used as the target image in the single-pixel imaging process. Second, considering the barcode image as the amplitude constraint, the original plaintext image is encoded to two phase-only masks using a designed phase retrieval algorithm in Fresnel domain, and these masks are applied as secret keys. Finally, the barcode image is encrypted to a series of measurements using two-step phase shift Fourier single-pixel imaging as the ciphertext. Differing other methods, the original image is not directly imaged and encoded into the ciphertext. Even the ciphertext is obtained by a cracker, only the barcode image may be further discovered. Due to two phase-only masks as secret keys, the security level of the cryptosystem can be enhanced greatly. The simulated results verify the feasibility of the proposed method, and this work provides an effective alternative for the related research.
Abstract We present an optical encryption approach based on the combination of fractal Fresnel lens (FFL) and fractional Fourier transform (FrFT). Our encryption approach is in fact a four-fold encryption scheme, including the random phase encoding produced by the Gerchberg–Saxton algorithm, a FFL, and two FrFTs. A FFL is composed of a Sierpinski carpet fractal plate and a Fresnel zone plate. In our encryption approach, the security is enhanced due to the more expandable key spaces and the use of FFL overcomes the alignment problem of the optical axis in optical system. Only using the perfectly matched parameters of the FFL and the FrFT, the plaintext can be recovered well. We present an image encryption algorithm that from the ciphertext we can get two original images by the FrFT with two different phase distribution keys, obtained by performing 100 iterations between the two plaintext and ciphertext, respectively. We test the sensitivity of our approach to various parameters such as the wavelength of light, the focal length of FFL, and the fractional orders of FrFT. Our approach can resist various attacks.
A new kind of multilevel authentication system based on the (t, n) threshold secret sharing scheme and the iterative phase retrieval algorithm in Fresnel domain is proposed, in which, the first phase distribution iteratively generated is divided into n parts and delivered to n different participants, during high-level authentication, any t (t ≤ n) or more of them can be collected to reconstruct the original meaningful certification image; While in the case of low-level authentication, any t − 1 or fewer will gain no significant information of certification image, however, it can result in a remarkable peak output in the nonlinear correlation coefficient of the recovered image and the standard certification image, which can successfully provide an additional authentication layer for the high-level authentication. Theoretical analysis and numerical simulations both validate the feasibility of our proposed scheme.