Multiple-image encryption based on compressive holography using a multiple-beam interferometer

Abstract

Multiple-image encryption techniques not only improve the encryption capacity but also facilitate the transmission and storage of the ciphertext. We present a new method of multiple-image encryption based on compressive holography with enhanced data security using a multiple-beam interferometer. By modifying the Mach–Zehnder interferometer, the interference of multiple object beams and unique reference beam is implemented for encrypting multiple images simultaneously into one hologram. The original images modulated with the random phase masks are put in different positions with different distance away from the CCD camera. Each image plays the role of secret key for other images to realize the mutual encryption. Four-step phase shifting technique is combined with the holographic recording. The holographic recording is treated as a compressive sensing process, thus the decryption process is inverted as a minimization problem and the two-step iterative shrinkage/thresholding algorithm (TwIST) is employed to solve this optimization problem. The simulated results about multiple binary and grayscale images encryption are demonstrated to verify the validity and robustness of our proposed method.