A review of optical image encryption techniques

•A number of optical encryption techniques proposed in the literature are reviewed.•We categorize them into all optical techniques and image scrambling techniques.•Each technique is investigated both optically and numerically.•The sensitivities of various encryption keys demonstrate the robustness.•The preliminary comparison results quantitatively evaluate the robustness.

In this paper we review a number of optical image encryption techniques proposed in the literature inspired by the architecture of the classic optical Double Random Phase Encoding (DRPE) system. The optical DRPE method and its numerical simulation algorithm are first investigated in relation to the sampling considerations at various stages of the system according to the spreading of the input signal in both the space and spatial frequency domains. Then the several well-known optically inspired encryption techniques are examined and categorized into all optical techniques and image scrambling techniques. Each method is numerically implemented and compared with the optical DRPE scheme, in which random phase diffusers (masks) are applied after different transformations. The optical system used for each method is first illustrated and the corresponding unitary numerical algorithm implementation is then investigated in order to retain the properties of the optical counterpart. The simulation results for the sensitivities of the various encryption keys are presented and the robustness of each method is examined. This overview allows the numerical simulations of the corresponding optical encryption systems, and the extra degree of freedom (keys) provided by different techniques that enhance the optical encryption security, to be generally appreciated and briefly compared and contrasted.