Asymmetric information hiding and noise-free recovery based on rotating analyzer ellipsometry and quick-response code

We report an asymmetric optical information hiding method based on a rotating analyzer ellipsometry technique. This asymmetric hiding architecture not only avoids the interception of keys during transmission or distribution but also makes the cyphertext more inconspicuous for attackers. A new kind of one-way optical trapdoor function is constructed based on the fact that the state of polarization (SOP) of elliptical polarized light cannot be recovered with only the knowledge of intensity captured after passing through a linear polarizer. Meanwhile, the SOP of a polarization ellipse could be calculated by rotating the polarizer to record two scenes of intensity after it. Introduction of a quick response code as a container leads to noise-free recovery for original information and enhances practicality of the proposed cryptosystem with versatile key sensitivity and fault tolerance capability. Numerical simulation results that support theoretical analysis are presented. Analysis on the relationship between hiding effect or quality of decryption and parameters of the algorithm also is provided.