Takanori Nomura

Securing information by use of digital holography

An information security method that uses a digital holographic technique is presented. An encrypted image is stored as a digital hologram. The decryption key is also stored as a digital hologram. The encrypted image can be electrically decrypted by use of the digital hologram of the key. This security technique provides secure storage and data transmission. Experimental results are presented to demonstrate the proposed method.

Optical encryption using a joint transform correlator architecture

An optical double random-phase encryption method using a joint transform correlator architecture is proposed. In this method, the joint power spectrum of the image to be encrypted and the key codes is recorded as the encrypted data. Unlike the case with classical double random-phase encryption, the same key code is used to both encrypt and decrypt the data, and the conjugate key is not required. Computer simulations and optical experimental results using a photorefractive- crystal-based processor are presented.

Optical Techniques for Information Security

This paper presents an overview of the potential of free space optical technology in information security, encryption, and authentication. Optical waveform posses many degrees of freedom such as amplitude, phase, polarization, spectral content, and multiplexing which can be combined in different ways to make the information encoding more secure. This paper reviews optical techniques for encryption and security of two-dimensional and three-dimensional data. Interferometric methods are used to record and retrieve data by either optical or digital holography for security applications. Digital holograms are widely used in recording and processing three dimensional data, and are attractive for securing three dimensional data. Also, we review optical authentication techniques applied to ID tags with visible and near infrared imaging. A variety of images and signatures, including biometrics, random codes, and primary images can be combined in an optical ID tag for security and authentication.

Phase-shifting digital holography with a phase difference between orthogonal polarizations

Phase-shifting digital holography with a phase difference between orthogonal polarizations is proposed. The use of orthogonal polarizations can make it possible to record two phase-shifted holograms simultaneously. By combining the holograms with the distributions of a reference wave and an object wave, the complex field of the objects wavefront can be obtained. Preliminary experimental results are shown to confirm the proposed method.

Roadmap on optical security

Information security and authentication are important challenges facing society. Recent attacks by hackers on the databases of large commercial and financial companies have demonstrated that more research and development of advanced approaches are necessary to deny unauthorized access to critical data. Free space optical technology has been investigated by many researchers in information security, encryption, and authentication. The main motivation for using optics and photonics for information security is that optical waveforms possess many complex degrees of freedom such as amplitude, phase, polarization, large bandwidth, nonlinear transformations, quantum properties of photons, and multiplexing that can be combined in many ways to make information encryption more secure and more difficult to attack. This roadmap article presents an overview of the potential, recent advances, and challenges of optical security and encryption using free space optics. The roadmap on optical security is comprised of six categories that together include 16 short sections written by authors who have made relevant contributions in this field. The first category of this roadmap describes novel encryption approaches, including secure optical sensing which summarizes double random phase encryption applications and flaws [Yamaguchi], the digital holographic encryption in free space optical technique which describes encryption using multidimensional digital holography [Nomura], simultaneous encryption of multiple signals [Perez-Cabre], asymmetric methods based on information truncation [Nishchal], and dynamic encryption of video sequences [Torroba]. Asymmetric and one-way cryptosystems are analyzed by Peng. The second category is on compression for encryption. In their respective contributions, Alfalou and Stern propose similar goals involving compressed data and compressive sensing encryption. The very important area of cryptanalysis is the topic of the third category with two sections: Sheridan reviews phase retrieval algorithms to perform different attacks, whereas Situ discusses nonlinear optical encryption techniques and the development of a rigorous optical information security theory. The fourth category with two contributions reports how encryption could be implemented at the nano- or micro-scale. Naruse discusses the use of nanostructures in security applications and Carnicer proposes encoding information in a tightly focused beam. In the fifth category, encryption based on ghost imaging using single-pixel detectors is also considered. In particular, the authors [Chen, Tajahuerce] emphasize the need for more specialized hardware and image processing algorithms. Finally, in the sixth category, Mosk and Javidi analyze in their corresponding papers how quantum imaging can benefit optical encryption systems. Sources that use few photons make encryption systems much more difficult to attack, providing a secure method for authentication.

Secure optical data storage with random phase key codes by use of a configuration of a joint transform correlator

A secure optical storage based on a configuration of a joint transform correlator by use of a photorefractive material is presented. A key code designed through the use of an optimized algorithm so that its Fourier transform has a uniform amplitude distribution and a uniformly random phase distribution is introduced. Original two-dimensional data and the key code are placed side-by-side at the input plane. Both of them are stored in a photorefractive material as a joint power spectrum. The retrieval of the original data can be achieved with the same key code. We can record multiple two-dimensional data in the same crystal by angular multiplexing and/or key code multiplexing.

Optical encryption system with a binary key code

A double-random-phase optical encryption system that uses a binary key code is proposed. The key code is generated as a binary computer-generated hologram. The binary key code can be displayed on a binary spatial light modulator (SLM) such as a ferroelectric liquid-crystal display. The use of a binary SLM enables us to renew the key at high speed. A joint transform correlator based on a photorefractive crystal in the Fourier domain is used to perform shift-invariant encryption and decryption. Computer simulations of the effects of using a binary encoded key code instead of a complex amplitude key code are shown. Preliminary optical experimental results are presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed system.

Polarization imaging of a 3D object by use of on-axis phase-shifting digital holography

A polarimetric imaging method of a 3D object by use of on-axis phase-shifting digital holography is presented. The polarimetric image results from a combination of two kinds of holographic imaging using orthogonal polarized reference waves. Experimental demonstration of a 3D polarimetric imaging is presented.

Image quality improvement of digital holography by superposition of reconstructed images obtained by multiple wavelengths

A method to improve the image quality of a digital holographic reconstructed image by means of speckle reduction is proposed. The size and position of the speckles are changed according to the wavelengths to record a digital hologram. By superposing reconstructed images with different wavelengths, the effect of speckle is reduced so that the image quality is improved. Optical experiments are given to confirm the proposed method.

Single-exposure phase-shifting digital holography using a random-phase reference wave.

We propose a single-exposure phase-shifting digital holography based on a wave-splitting method using a random-phase reference wave. A random-phase reference wave gives random-phase distribution on the digital hologram. Using the amplitude and the phase distributions of the reference wave, the fully complex amplitude of the object wave is obtained. The proposed method requires not devised optical systems but ordinary imaging devices, such as CCD cameras. A preliminary experimental result is given to confirm the proposed method.