New research in imaging may lead to advancements for the Air Force in data encryption and wide-area photography with high resolution. Researchers at Princeton University used a special optical device called a nonlinear crystal, rather than an ordinary lens, to capture an image. Every image is made up of a collection of light waves, and a lens bends (refracts) the waves towards a detector. In contrast, in the nonlinear material, these waves communicate to each other and interact, generating new waves and distorting themselves in the process. The mixing is a form of physical (vs. numerical) encryption, but it would be useless if the process could not be reversed. The proposed algorithm provides a way of undoing the image and thus recovering the original signal. If the signal itself is encrypted from the beginning, then this method would provide another layer of protection.

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http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/07/090714165100.htm