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Journal of Optics

Image encryption using phase-encoded exclusive-OR operations with incoherent illumination

Praveen Kumar, Areeba Fatima, Naveen Kumar Nishchal

Published Apr 8, 2019• 25 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Abstract Exclusive-OR (XOR) operation is a popular technique in optical cryptography. The linear and inverse properties of XOR operation provide a simple way of encryption but in some cases fail to provide strong security. In XOR-based image encryption, each pixel is individually encrypted, therefore secret information can be traced with partial knowledge of the key. In this paper, we describe a simple and practical method to improve the strength and effectiveness of XOR-based encryption. A higher level of security is achieved by implementing a phase retrieval algorithm with XOR operation. Another advantage of the proposed scheme is that the optical XOR operation is demonstrated using incoherent light sources, which make the system compact, speckle free, and cost effective. Also, to overcome the problem of quality degradation while decrypting, quick response code-based ciphertext has been implemented. Both simulation and experimental results are demonstrated as a proof-of-concept.

DOI
10.1088/2040-8986/ab173b

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Abstract Exclusive-OR (XOR) operation is a popular technique in optical cryptography. The linear and inverse properties of XOR operation provide a simple way of encryption but in some cases fail to provide strong security. In XOR-based image encryption, each pixel is individually encrypted, therefore secret information can be traced with partial knowledge of the key. In this paper, we describe a simple and practical method to improve the strength and effectiveness of XOR-based encryption. A higher level of security is achieved by implementing a phase retrieval algorithm with XOR operation. Another advantage of the proposed scheme is that the optical XOR operation is demonstrated using incoherent light sources, which make the system compact, speckle free, and cost effective. Also, to overcome the problem of quality degradation while decrypting, quick response code-based ciphertext has been implemented. Both simulation and experimental results are demonstrated as a proof-of-concept.
In this paper, we proposed an optical security system based on a gray-image exclusive-OR encryption using multi-phase separation and phase-wrapping method. For encryption, a gray image is sliced into binary images, which have the same pixel value, and these images are encrypted by modified XOR rules with binary random images. The XORed images and the binary images respectively combined and converted into full phase images, called an encrypted image and a key image. For decryption, when the encrypted image and key image are used as inputs on optical elements, Practically due to limited controllability of phase range in optical elements, the original gray image cannot be efficiently reconstructed by these optical elements. Therefore, by decreasing the phase ranges of the encrypted image and key image using a phase-wrapping method and separating these images into low-level phase images using multi-phase separation, the gray image can be reconstructed by optical elements which have limited control range. The decrytion process is simply implemented by interfering a multiplication result of encrypted image and key image with reference light. The validity of proposed scheme is verified and the effects, which are caused by phase limitation in decryption process, is analyzed by using computer simulations.
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.
We report a simultaneous image compression and encryption scheme based on solving a typical optical inverse problem. The secret images to be processed are multiplexed as the input intensities of a cascaded diffractive optical system. At the output plane, a compressed complex-valued data with a lot fewer measurements can be obtained by utilizing error-reduction phase retrieval algorithm. The magnitude of the output image can serve as the final ciphertext while its phase serves as the decryption key. Therefore the compression and encryption are simultaneously completed without additional encoding and filtering operations. The proposed strategy can be straightforwardly applied to the existing optical security systems that involve diffraction and interference. Numerical simulations are performed to demonstrate the validity and security of the proposal.
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.
In conventional interference-based optical encryption schemes, a potential cracker can retrieve partial information (silhouette) of the secret image using only one phase-only mask (POM). We resolve this drawback using a phase-blend operation and piecewise linear chaotic map (PWLCM) to further encode the POMs. One cannot recover a secret image visibly when inverse phase-blend operation and inverse chaotic permutation are not carried out with the correct decryption keys. Chaotic parameters of PWLCM, and random phase-angle function in the phase-blend operation enlarge the key space and improve the security of the proposed system greatly. Numerical simulations and optoelectronic experiments are performed to verify the effectiveness of the proposed scheme.
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.