Optical and Quantum Electronics (2022) 54:245

https://doi.org/10.1007/s11082-022-03581-3

New method to encrypt RGB images using quantum

computing

Mahsa Khorrampanah1 · Monireh Houshmand1 · Mohammad Mahdi Lotfi Heravi2

Received: 19 November 2021 / Accepted: 7 February 2022 / Published online: 21 March 2022
© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2022

Abstract
In this research, we propose a new way to encrypt RGB color image using a key. In the pro-
posed method, the desired digital image is encoded using the BRQI quantum images. This
algorithm consists of two main phases. In the first phase, we interpolate the quantum image
using proposed operation which is based on changing the bit planes of the image. The out-
put is given as input of the second phase. In the second phase, the image is encrypted using
the defined key. We analyzed and compared the performance of the proposed algorithm
using evaluation of criteria’s including histogram analysis, correlation coefficient of pixels
adjacent to correlation diagram analysis and entropy with previous similar works. Accord-
ing to the results, the proposed algorithm has good performance than previous similar
works such as Heidari et al. protocol.

Keywords Quantum image · Quantum image processing · Quantum cryptography · RGB ·

BRQI image

1 Introduction

In 1956, when the first microprocessor was built, Gordon Moore predicted that the num-
ber of transistors on a chip would be double every 18–24 months. This increasing in the
number of transistors increases the speed of the processors and reduces the size of them
(Moore 1965). Therefore, Moore’s prediction and the impossibility of unconditional secu-
rity in classical computers necessitated the introduction of quantum information theory and
the construction of quantum computers (Khorrampanah and Houshmand 2013; Hassan-
pour and Houshmand 2016; Zadeh et al. 2017; Sadeghi-Zadeh et al. 2019). The applica-
tion of quantum mechanics in computing and information has led to the emergence of two
new branches called computational computing and information. Quantum information is a
branch of science in which methods of information transfer are studied using the principles
of quantum mechanics (Bennett and Brassard 1984; Nielsen and Chuang 1997).

* Monireh Houshmand
[email protected]
1
Department of Electrical Engineering, Imam Reza International University, Mashhad, Iran
2
Department of Management, Science and Technology, Amirkabir University of Technology
(Tehran Polytechnic), Tehran, Iran

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245 Page 2 of 16 M. Khorrampanah et al.

Digital images are mainly divided into three main parts: binary images, gray level
images and color images. Binary images are encoded in a two-dimensional array, using one
bit per pixel that represents zero black and one white. Gray level images in a two-dimen-
sional array of pixels are encoded by 8 bits per pixel, showing zero black and 255 white
so, the values between
​​ them show different intensities of gray. With the advent of quantum
computing and the expansion of the use of quantum information theory, many researchers
have recently been trying to use the achievements of quantum information theory in image
processing. Therefore, quantum image processing means the use of quantum computing
and quantum circuits for better and faster processing of digital images that are encoded
using different quantum representations.
In recent years, many efforts have been made to provide methods for processing the
quantum images (Heidari et al. 2017a, b, 2019a, b; Naseri et al. 2017a, b; Heidari and
Farzadnia 2017). First, in 2003, the first method to display quantum images was proposed
(Venegas-Andraca and Bose 2003). Wengas-Andraka and his colleagues used a network of
qubits to represent the quantum image. By introduction of the idea of quantum
​​ image rep-
resentation, other research was conducted to display images in various other ways. Exam-
ples include the interlaced image by Venegas-Andraca et al. (2010), the real coat by Le
et al. 2011), the flexible display for quantum images by Sun et al. (2013), the quantum dis-
play for RGB-based multichannel images by Zhang et al. (2013a) mentioned an advanced
method for displaying quantum images by Li et al. ( 2014) and a quantum representation
for multidimensional images by Abdolmaleky et al. (2016). Quantum image processing has
been extensively researched in areas such as quantum image watermarking, quantum image
preprocessing and quantum image cryptography (Zhang et al. 2013b). The algorithm in
Zhang et al. (2013b) is based on a key that only shifts the pixels. Heidari and Naseri (2016)
proposed a method to increase the security of the binary watermarked image. In Zhou et al.
(2015), the NEQR quantum model is used to display the image. Heidari et al. (2019c)
introduced a method to encrypt quantum images based on the location and color of pixels.
In this paper, we propose a new method for encryption RGB color image using quan-
tum computing. In this study, we will propose and introduce a new method for RGB color
image encryption using quantum computing. Image encryption means making the image
meaningless using a key so that only the recipient of the message is able to extract and use
the original image. The rest of the paper is organized as follows. Section 2 introduces the
methods encryption algorithm consists of two general phases. Afterwards, the final results
and analyzing of the proposed protocol are given. Finally, Sect. 4 shows the conclusion.

2 Proposed protocol

The encryption algorithm consists of two general phases. In the first step, the desired
colored image is scrambled using the bit planes without any key. In the second phase, the
scrambled image will be encrypted using a key. The diagram of this algorithm is shown in
Fig. 1.

2.1 First phase: the scrambling of the colored image

At first, the main goal is to scramble the image without a key. In short, this phase of the
algorithm can be summarized in moving the bit planes. Recently, Li et al. (2018) pro-
posed a quantum representation called BRQI for bit-plane digital images. The proposed

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New method to encrypt RGB images using quantum computing Page 3 of 16 245

Fig. 1  The scheme of the pro-

posed protocol

algorithm is based on the study of Li et al. because this method requires n + 4 qubits to
display an image with size 2n−k × 2k , which saves a significant amount of qubit memory
compared to the previous models. For a RGB image, the BRQI quantum representation
will be as Eq. (1) that ch is the desired channel and can be one of the values 00, 01 and 10.
In detail, to display a color image using this method, it is enough to show the type of chan-
nel with two qubits. This means that the red channel is coded with 00, the green channel
with 01 and the blue channel with 10.
3 n−k
2 2 −1 2 −1 2 −1 k
� 8� 1 �� � �
�ψ = √
�
�g(x ⋅ y)⟩�x⟩�y⟩�l⟩�ch⟩ (1)
2n+3 ch=0 l=0 x=0 y=0
In Eq. (1), �x⟩ = ��xn−1 xn−2 … xk ⟩ and �y⟩ = ��yk−1 yk−2 … y0 ⟩ specifies the vertical and hor-
izontal axes of the image, respectively. These two sequences of the qubits show the loca-
tions of the desired pixel. Also �g(x ⋅ y)⟩ represents the color of the pixel, which is a single
qubit.
According to Eq. (1), �l⟩ specifies the bit plane, that it holds the values 0–7 in binary
form, which represents the desired bit plane. The string qubit �l⟩, which consists of three
qubits ��l0 l1 l2 ⟩, represents the bit planes. Therefore, only by changing these three qubits, can
the image be scrambled without considering the color channel. Our scrambling algorithm
is proposed as follows and shown in Fig. 2.
For all of the even pixels: (1) If ��l2 ⟩ = 0, so, g(x ⋅ y) must be NOT. (2) Exchanging of the
�l ⟩ and �l ⟩. (3) Exchanging of the �l ⟩ and �l ⟩. (4) If �l ⟩ = 0, so, �l ⟩ must be NOT. (5) All
�0 �1 �1 �2 �2 �0
of the ��l0 ⟩, ��l1 ⟩ and ��l2 ⟩ must be NOT.
For all of the odd pixels: (1) If ��l2 ⟩ = 0, so, g(x ⋅ y) must be NOT. (2) Exchanging of the
�l ⟩ and �l ⟩. (3) Exchanging of the �l ⟩ and �l ⟩. (4) If �l ⟩ = 0, so, �l ⟩ must be NOT. (5) All
�0 �2 �1 �2 �2 �1
of the ��l0 ⟩, ��l1 ⟩ and ��l2 ⟩ must be NOT.

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245 Page 4 of 16 M. Khorrampanah et al.

Fig. 2  The scheme of the proposed protocol in the first phase

2.1.1 Designing of the first phase of the proposed protocol

Since this phase is divided into two parts of the pixels as odd and even, we consider the
locations of the pixels. Therefore, we consider the qubit string �x⟩�y⟩, which represents the
location of the image pixel. In the decimal displaying of the binary numbers, only the least
valuable bit specifies the binary string is even or odd. Therefore, the least valuable qubit in
the qubit string �x⟩�y⟩ specifies even or odd location of the desired pixel. If this qubit is 0,
the desired pixel will be even, and if it is one, the desired pixel will be odd. In the string
qubit �x⟩�y⟩, where �y⟩ = ��yk−1 yk−2 … y0 ⟩, we can only measure ��y0 ⟩ we specify the even or
odd location of the pixel in the image.
In the first phase, to run the algorithm, we only need C-NOT, CC-NOT and swap gates.
Figures 4 and 5 shows the quantum circuit designed for the first phase. According to the
proposed steps, this circuit must be designed in two parts for even and odd pixels sepa-
rately. By considering the qubit ��y0 ⟩, we understand the location of the pixel.
In quantum circuits, there are two types of control conditions that are represented by
symbols ∙ and ◦. If the control condition is a control qubit ◦, then the target circuit will only
be affected if the control qubit is zero, otherwise it will not change. Similarly, if the control
condition is a control qubit ∙ , then the target circuit will only be affected if the control qubit
is one, otherwise it will not change. We can put a one-bit binary tag on these symbols. That
is, zero for ◦ and also one for ∙.

2.2 Second phase: encryption of the colored image

2.2.1 Definition of the key

Our proposed algorithm will be based on a key which the sender and receiver of the image
agreed. In the proposed algorithm, in order to increase security, the key is part of an image.
We labeled the key of the image as K. The definition of this key in BRQI will be as Eq. (2).
In BRQI, the ch for red, green and blue channels are 00, 01 and 10. In the proposed quan-
tum encryption method, we will consider the red channel of the K key as the main key.

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New method to encrypt RGB images using quantum computing Page 5 of 16 245

3 n−k
2 2 −1 2 −1 2 −1 k
1 � � � �� � �� � � � �
�K⟩ √ �g x� ⋅ y� ��x� ��y� ��l� ��ch� (2)
�
2n+3 � � � �
ch =0 l =0 x =0 y =0

2.2.2 Synchronize the positions of the pixels in the main image and the key image

The proposed method is based on increasing the security to prevent the extraction of origi-
nal data by unauthorized persons. Now, to use the key image, all of the positions of the
pixels must be equal with the original image. Figure 3 shows the desired quantum circuit

Fig. 3  Quantum circuit designed

to synchronize the positions
of the key image and the main
image

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which the auxiliary qubit value equal to 1 the positions of the key image and the main
image are equal.
The first C-NOT is applied to the two qubits X0 and X0. If the qubit X0 is equal to one,
′

the qubit X0 is knotted, and if this qubit is equal to zero, the qubit X0 will not change. The
′ ′

values ​​of X0 and X0 are equal when the output value of the C-NOT gate is zero. Therefore,
′

we define the auxiliary qubit by measuring the output of the C-NOT gate and applying the
zero condition. This means that when the auxiliary qubit is one, the two qubits X0 and X0
′

will be equal. The circuit in Fig. 2 extends the above description to all qubits and locations.
For this purpose, two qubit strings are equal when all the output of the C-NOT gates are
zero.

2.2.3 The algorithm of the encryption of the colored image

The input of this algorithm is the scrambled image obtained in the first phase. This stage
of the algorithm consists of three parts. Recommended for red, green and blue channels
separately. It is important to note that we only use the first four bit planes of the red key
image channel. As shown in Fig. 4, the inputs are the scrambled image obtained from the
first phase, the key image and the auxiliary qubit, respectively. In this circuit, filled circles
represent one and empty circles represent zero. More details of this circuit are as following:

�a⟩: This part of the circuit is defined as the auxiliary qubit, which is set in the spatial
position synchronization circuit.

Fig. 4  Designed of the quantum circuit of the second phase of the proposed algorithm

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New method to encrypt RGB images using quantum computing Page 7 of 16 245

| ′⟩ | ⟩
|ch1 and |ch′2 : This part of the circuit is used to determine the channel of the key
| |
image. Using condition 00 to the qubit string ch, we ensure that we only use the red
channel of key image.
| ′⟩ | ′⟩ | ⟩
|l0 , |l1 and |l2′ : The number of bit plane is specified by the qubit string ��l2 l1 l0 ⟩ which
| | |
contains values between 0 and 7, i.e. 000 to 111. This part of the circuit according to the
proposed algorithm controls the applied condition of the first, second, third and forth bit
planes. ⟩
�G(X ⋅ Y)⟩ and ||G� (X ⋅ Y) : This part of the circuit performs the final XOR operation.
�ch ⟩ and �ch ⟩: This section is for applying the 00 condition to the red channel of the
� 0 � 2
input image.
�l ⟩, �l ⟩ and �l ⟩: This part of the circuit applies the page condition of bits 000 to 111 to
�0 �1 �2
the input image.

3 Analysis of the proposed protocol

We compare our proposed algorithm with Heidari et al. (2019c) for quantum scrambling of
RGB image. These images have the size of 256 × 256 which are shown in Fig. 5a1–a6. The
result of applying the proposed cryptographic algorithm to the images shown in Fig. 5. The
first column is the main image and the second column shows the key image. The third col-
umn shows the final results obtained from the proposed algorithm which is the encrypted
image. Finally, decrypting the encrypted image produces the original medical image shown
in the fourth column.
In this section, we analyze the performance of the proposed algorithm using evaluation
of criteria’s including histogram analysis, correlation coefficient of pixels adjacent to cor-
relation diagram analysis and entropy by MATLAB software.

3.1 Histogram diagram

We consider the House image with a size of 256 × 256 as input image and Baboon as key
image. The main house histogram for the three red, green and blue channels is shown in
Fig. 6. As shown in Fig. 6, the intensity distribution of different colors of encrypted image
histogram using proposed algorithm is more flat and uniform, so is suitable than Heidari
et al. algorithm.
In detail, to get the histogram of the image in three states of red, green and blue, we give
the original image in the size of 256 × 256 as input to the codes which are written in MAT-
LAB software and pass through three channels of red, green and blue. Finally, using the
MATLAB library, we obtain the histogram of images as output of each channel (Fig. 7).

3.2 Correlation coefficient of adjacent pixels

In process of scrambling of the image, the correlation between the pixels is lost. Correla-
tion coefficients are examined in three directions of horizontal, vertical and diagonal coor-
dinates which are calculated as Eq. (3). We compare the correlation coefficient of adjacent
pixels of the airplane, Lena, peppers and sailboat on lake images with size 256 × 256 of
the proposed method and protocol of Heidari et al. (2019c) on Lena image which shown in
Table 1.

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Fig. 5  a1–a6 main images. b1–b6 key images. c1–c6 encrypted images. d1–d6 decrypted images

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Fig. 6  Histogram of the house image for the three red, blue and green channels

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Fig. 7  Histogram of the house image in Heidari et al. (2019c) and proposed protocols

�√
rxy = cov(x ⋅ y) D(x)D(y) (3)

m
1 ∑
E(x) = x
m i=1 i

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Table 1  The comparison of the correlation coefficient

Red channel Green channel Blue channel
Diagonal Vertical Horizontal Diagonal Vertical Horizontal Diagonal Vertical Horizontal

Correlation coefficient of the Lena image

0.8672 0.945 0.9045 0.9219 0.9717 0.9458 0.9196 0.9709 0.9451
Correlation coefficient of the Lena image which encrypted by proposed protocol using Baboon image as
key image
− 0.0014 − 0.0047 0.0018 − 0.0010 − 0.0092 − 0.0011 − 0.0043 0.0006 − 0.0012
Correlation coefficient of the airplane image
0.9129 0.9337 0.9623 0.9324 0.9675 0.9575 0.9337 0.9562 0.9720
Correlation coefficient of the airplane image which encrypted by proposed protocol using Baboon image
as key image
0.0003 − 0.0009 − 0.0002 − 0.0056 − 0.0020 − 0.0006 0.0007 0.0048 − 0.0008
Correlation coefficient of the peppers image
0.83929 0.88021 0.90664 0.7345 0.764 0.865 0.85351 0.86543 0.92246
Correlation coefficient of the peppers image which encrypted by proposed protocol using Lena image as
key image
0.0003 0.0012 − 0.0012 − 0.001 0.0024 0.0008 − 0.005 0.0246 − 0.011
Correlation coefficient of the sailboat on lake image
0.9525 0.968 0.9706 0.9528 0.966 0.9713 0.9413 0.9532 0.954
Correlation coefficient of the sailboat on lake image which encrypted by proposed protocol using Baboon
image as key image
− 0.0001 0.0025 0.0007 − 0.0017 0.00113 0.0002 − 0.0019 0.0024 − 0.0009
Correlation coefficient of the Lena image using Heidari et. al. protocol (Heidari et al. 2019c)
0.0027 0.0009 0.0039 0.0012 0.0017 0.0039 0.0035 0.0066 0.0045

m
1 ∑( )2
D(x) = xi − E(x)
m i=1

m
1 ∑( )( )
cov(x ⋅ y) = x − E(x) yi − E(y)
m i=1 i

The correlation between the pixels disappears after the irregularity process. The
correlation diagram between the pixels in three directions of horizontal, vertical and
diagonal coordinates has also been investigated in order to evaluate the performance of
the proposed algorithm. In the main images, which have a correlation between the pix-
els, the correlation diagram has a specific orientation in each direction. In encrypted
images where there is no correlation between the pixels, the correlation diagram is
completely visually scattered and has no definite orientation. Correlation diagram
analysis is desirable in our proposed algorithm and is completely dispersed after the
deregulation process. Figures 8 and 9 show examples for the correlation diagrams. In
these diagrams, the left column corresponds to the original image and the right column
corresponds to the encrypted image.

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Fig. 8  Correlation diagrams of the airplane a1–a3 before and b1–b3 after encryption of the image with key
image of peppers

Fig. 9  Correlation diagrams of the sailboat on lake a1–a3 before and b1–b3 after encryption of the image
with key image of peppers

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3.3 Entropy

The entropy information H(p) is (obtained

) from the original image and the scrambled
image by the following equation. p mi is the probability of each pixel of the image which
entropy increases if the image becomes irregular.
m
∑ ( ) 1
H(p) = p mi × log2 ( ) (4)
i=1 p mi

Table 2 shows the comparison of entropy for the airplane, Lena, peppers and sailboat on
lake images with sizes of 256 × 256 which calculated using proposed method and protocol
of Heidari et al. (2019c) based on Lena image. The entropy information increases after the
scrambling process and, is as close as possible to 8 (8 bits describe each pixel) so, we have
a high performance compared to the Heidari et al. method.

3.4 Temporal complexity of quantum circuits

The overall complexity of the proposed network for a BRQI image will be as: circuit com-
plexity of first phase + circuit complexity of second phase + (2 × complexity of the circuit
synchronizing positions). So, in the following, we compute the circuit complexity of the
two phases and temporal complexity of a quantum circuit synchronizing positions.

1) Calculate the temporal complexity of a quantum circuit synchronizing positions: Accord-

ing (Lloyd 1995), if we consider the Taffoli gate as the base gate, the temporal complex-
ity of a m C-NOT (a C-NOT with m conditions) gate will be o (m). As shown Fig. 2,
we use n numbers of the C-NOT gates, 4 k-8 Taffoli gates and k-2 auxiliary qubits.
According to Lloyd (1995), each Taffoli gate can be implemented by 6 numbers of the
C-NOT gates. So, the complexity of this circuit is o (n + k).
2) Calculation of the temporal complexity of the first phase quantum circuit of the proposed
algorithm: As shown in Fig. 2, for odd pixels we have three number of the C-NOT gates
and 8 number of Taffoli gates (48 C-NOT gates). For even pixels, the number of used
gates are as similar. So, in first phase for the BRQI image with the size 2n−k × 2k , we
have 102 number of the gates. Therefore, temporal complexity of the first phase is o (1).
3) Calculation of the temporal complexity of the second phase quantum circuit of the
proposed algorithm: As shown in Fig. 3, we have 320 Taffoli gates (1920 C-NOT gates)
and 80 auxiliary qubits for each channel. According to have three channels, temporal
complexity of the second phase is o (1).

According to the three above steps, the overall complexity of the proposed network for
a BRQI image will be o (n + k). Also, to run the proposed algorithm in the classical com-
puter, it is necessary to run the proposed algorithm to the size of the entire image pixels.
The time complexity of the proposed algorithm for the image with size of 2n−k × 2k in a
classical computer, will be o (2n). Heidari et al. (2019c), the temporal complexity of the
colored image with the size of the 2n × 2n is o (n22n). To compare the temporal complex-
ity of this study with classical state and study of Heidari et al. (2019c), we compute the
temporal complexity of Heidari et al. (2019c) in image with size of 2n−k × 2k , which is o
((n − k)2n). The temporal complexity of Heidari et al. (2019c) is very high, because the

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Table 2  The comparison of the entropy

Red channel Green channel Blue
channel

Entropy of the Lena image

7.2599 7.5757 6.9938
Average of entropy: 7.2765
Entropy of the Lena image which encrypted by proposed protocol using Baboon image as key image
7.9938 7.9951 7.9952
Average of entropy: 7.9947
Entropy of the airplane image
6.7231 6.8031 6.2132
Average of entropy: 6.5811
Entropy of the airplane image which encrypted by proposed protocol using Baboon image as key image
7.996 7.9965 7.985
Average of entropy: 7.9925
Entropy of the peppers image
7.7096 7.4872 7.7558
Average of entropy: 7.6475
Entropy of the peppers image which encrypted by proposed protocol using Lena image as key image
7.997 7.9968 7.9986
Average of entropy: 7.9975
Entropy of the Sailboat on lake image
7.316 7.6488 7.2328
Average of entropy: 7.3992
Entropy of the Sailboat on lake image which encrypted by proposed protocol using Baboon image as key
image
7.9968 7.9983 7.9953
Average of entropy: 7.9968
Entropy of the Lena image using Heidari et. al. protocol (Heidari et al. 2019c)
7.9739 7.9889 7.9301
Average of entropy: 7.9643

Table 3  The comparison of the temporal complexity

Temporal Temporal complexity of (Heidari et al. 2019c) Temporal complexity in classical state
complexity
of proposed
protocol

The colored image with size of 2n−k × 2k

o(n + k) o((n − k)2n) o(2n)

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number of the C-NOT gates of the designed circuit is 2n and is very high. As a result, our
proposed method has a better temporal complexity than its classical equivalent and related
work. Table 3 shows the comparisons of the results.

4 Conclusion

In this study, a new method for quantum RGB image encryption was proposed. The pro-
posed algorithm consists of two phases. In the first phase, a simple scaling algorithm is
performed, which the input bit planes for all three red, green, and blue channels are moved
using the C-NOT control gates and displacement. Then, the output of the first phase is
given to the second phase. In the second phase, a key is used to increase image secu-
rity. Finally, the encrypted image is generated using the defined key. This image can be
decrypted by the virtual person that holds the key. To analyze this algorithm, we used cri-
teria such as histogram, entropy, correlation coefficient of adjacent pixels, and correlation
diagram. We found that the proposed algorithm has a temporal complexity of o (n + k)
(when the image size is 2n−k × 2k).
In future research, we intend to use confused functions, which are much scrambled,
instead of using the key image.

Funding The authors have not disclosed any funding.

Declarations
Conflict of interest The authors have not disclosed any conflict of interest.

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