Asymmetric multiple-image encryption based on the cascaded fractional Fourier transform

A multiple-image cryptosystem is proposed based on the cascaded fractional Fourier transform. During an encryption procedure, each of the original images is directly separated into two phase masks. A portion of the masks is subsequently modulated into an interim mask, which is encrypted into the ciphertext image; the others are used as the encryption keys. Using phase truncation in the fractional Fourier domain, one can use an asymmetric cryptosystem to produce a real-valued noise-like ciphertext, while a legal user can reconstruct all of the original images using a different group of phase masks. The encryption key is an indivisible part of the corresponding original image and is still useful during decryption. The proposed system has high resistance to various potential attacks, including the chosen-plaintext attack. Numerical simulations also demonstrate the security and feasibility of the proposed scheme.