Multiple-image authentication method based on phase-only holograms and a logistic map

An interesting security method for a multiple-image authentication scheme is proposed based on computer-generated holograms and a logistic map. First, each original image is encoded as the complex-valued hologram under the point light source model. The resulting hologram is then converted to a phase-only hologram using the Floyd-Steinberg dithering algorithm. Second, each phase-only hologram is randomly sampled with the aid of a binary mask. Through the catenation of all selected pixels, a phase-only pixel sequence is formed. Finally, a non-periodic and non-converging sequence generated with the logistic map is used to scramble this sequence. After only preserving the phase data of the scrambled sequence, the real-valued ciphertext carrying the information of all original images is obtained. In the process of authentication, although no valid information can be discerned from noisy reconstructed images at a small sampling rate, the verification of original images can be efficiently accomplished using the nonlinear correlation maps. Besides binary masks, the parameters of the logistic map are served as secret keys. Due to their high sensitivity, the security of the proposed method is greatly enhanced. The proposed authentication mechanism has been demonstrated to be effective and robust through experiments. To our knowledge, it is the first time to implement multiple-image authentication using phase-only holograms, which can provide a new perspective for optical information security.