Optical asymmetric cryptosystem for multi-image in cyan-magenta-yellow-black color space

In this paper, we propose an optical single-channel asymmetric cryptosystem for multi-image in cyan-magenta-yellow-black (CMYK) color space. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time that multiple images in CMYK color space have been directly encrypted. The proposed optical asymmetric cryptosystem is based on the quick response (QR) encoding process and the designed Fresnel-linear canonical-fractional Fourier transform (FLFT) encryption process. Each FLFT encryption process consists of phase-truncated FLFT and random amplitude phase masks. The proposed cryptosystem without color space conversion can improve the quality of the decrypted images and avoid the loss of information. In addition, by utilizing the QR codes, the cross talk and quality-loss problems can be reduced efficiently. Numerical simulation results demonstrate that the proposed cryptosystem possesses high robustness against various types of attacks, high security for encrypting multiple color images, and fast encryption efficiency. Furthermore, the proposed cryptosystem outperforms the other relevant cryptosystems and can be extended to encrypt multiple color images in a straightforward way.