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Journal of Optics

Customized data container for improved performance in optical cryptosystems

Alejandro Velez-Zea, John Fredy Barrera, Roberto Torroba

Published Nov 16, 2016• 31 citations
Publisher

Abstract

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.

DOI
10.1088/2040-8978/18/12/125702

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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.
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 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.
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.
Abstract We present a new compact scheme to ensure high performance optical encryption. In this scheme, the encrypted data and the security key are recorded without need for a reference arm, resulting in a significant decrease in the size and complexity of the cryptosystem. The efficacy of the compact scheme to protect data is verified by encrypting and decrypting different inputs. We also test the resistance to both random noise and data loss. Additionally, the potential of the system is evaluated by encoding the data to be encrypted by means of a customized data container. In this way, we achieve a data volume reduction of 97% for the encrypted data while allowing for noise-free information recovery using the proposed cryptosystem. We experimentally demonstrate both encryption and volume reduction, confirming the validity and applicability 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.
Abstract Experimental optical procedures generate a tremendous amount of data, which must be then processed for any practical application. We present a new optical approach in terms of the data volume for the efficient handling of multiple data obtained from an experimental cryptosystem. In order to achieve this goal, we use the combination of optical filtering and optical scaling of the experimentally registered data. The intention is to reduce by optical means the amount of data to be managed. We define a so called ‘efficiency factor’ to describe the effectiveness of the approach. We find that volume reduction depends on this factor and the number of objects to be processed. We achieved substantial data volume reductions up to 94.24%. We introduce the basic concepts as well as experimental results that support both the feasibility and the applicability of our approach.