Multiple-Image Hiding by Using Single-Shot Ptychography in Transform Domain

A practical method using single-shot ptychographic imaging (SPI) in the transform domain is proposed for multiple-image hiding. The excellent compressibility of SPI can bring high multiplexing capacity and imperceptibility to the proposed multiple-image hiding system. The security is mainly supported by the imperceptibility and the large quantity of scrambling modes, and security will be improved greatly with the increase of hidden images. Furthermore, the successful combination with the discrete cosine transform-domain algorithm can not only further enhance the imperceptibility and security but indicates that SPI-based multiple-image hiding is compatible with transform domain algorithms as well. Optical experiments demonstrate the high feasibility, multiplexing capacity, imperceptibility, and security of the proposed technique. The proposed method may open up a novel research perspective for multiple-image hiding combined with various efficient transform domain algorithms.