Kernel based color estimation for night vision imagery

Displaying night vision (NV) imagery with colors can largely improve observer's performance of scene recognition and situational awareness comparing to the conventional monochrome representation. However, estimating colors for single-band NV imagery has two challenges: deriving an appropriate color mapping model and extracting sufficient image features required by the model. To address these, a kernel based regression model and a set of multi-scale image features are used here. The proposed method can automatically render single-band NV imagery with natural colors, even when it has abnormal luminance distribution and lacks identifiable details.     

A thin and compact compound-eye imaging system incorporated with an image restoration considering color shift, brightness variation, and defocus

A compact system of the thin observation module by bound optics (TOMBO) imager based on compound-eye imaging has been constructed to demonstrate its advantages over single-eye imaging systems such as thinner hardware. To reconstruct a high-resolution image from low resolution images captured by the compound-eye optics, we propose an image restoration scheme based on the iterative back-projection algorithm with depth map estimated from the disparities on the captured image. The scheme includes suppression of unit-by-unit color shift caused by the offset microlenses and the color filters on the commercial image sensors and deblurring of defocus by geometrical optics using the depth map. In the experiment, three-dimensional objects were captured by the TOMBO imager and reconstructed with the scheme. After the processing, the power spectrum of the captured image was improved by up to 19 dB, and the power spectrum of the effect of the color shift was reduced by 7 dB.     

基于颜色迁移和聚类分割的偏振图像融合方法

为克服当前偏振图像融合方法存在的不足,提出了一种基于颜色迁移和聚类分割的偏振图像近自然彩色融合方法.该方法首先将偏振参量图像映射到HSI颜色空间,再得到初步的融合图像后将它变换到YIQ颜色空间,并采用颜色迁移技术对其进行颜色修正.通过将修正后的图像变换到HSI颜色空间,并利用对线偏振度图像进行模糊C-均值聚类分割的结果...     

Color image encryption by using the rotation of color vector in Hartley transform domains

We propose an algorithm to encrypt color image by using the rotation of color vector based on discrete Hartley transform. The three component images (red, green and blue) of color image are regarded as the axes of Cartesian coordinates. Two random angle shifts are introduced to rotate the color vectors composed by the three color components in discrete Hartley transform domains in image encryption process. The corresponding rotation shifts of the two angles can serve as the key of the scheme. Moreover the encrypted image is encoded with real number. Some numerical simulations have demonstrated the possibility of the proposed scheme.     

Quantum information processing with nuclear spins mediated by a weak-mechanically controlled electron spin

We propose a scheme to achieve nuclear-nuclear indirect interactions mediated by a mechanically driven nitrogen-vacancy (NV) center in a diamond. Here we demonstrate two-qubit entangling gates and quantum-state transfer between two carbon nuclei. When the dipole-dipole interaction strength is much larger than the driving field strength, the scheme is robust against decoherence caused by coupling between the NV center (nuclear spins) and the environment. Conveniently, precise control of dipole coupling is not required so this scheme is insensitive to fluctuating positions of the nuclear spins and the NV center. Our scheme provides a general blueprint for multi-nuclear-spin gates and for multi-party communication.     

Single Channel Quantum Color Image Encryption Algorithm Based on HSI Model and Quantum Fourier Transform

In order to obtain high-quality color images, it is important to keep the hue component unchanged while emphasize the intensity or saturation component. As a public color model, Hue-Saturation Intensity (HSI) model is commonly used in image processing. A new single channel quantum color image encryption algorithm based on HSI model and quantum Fourier transform (QFT) is investigated, where the color components of the original color image are converted to HSI and the logistic map is employed to diffuse the relationship of pixels in color components. Subsequently, quantum Fourier transform is exploited to fulfill the encryption. The cipher-text is a combination of a gray image and a phase matrix. Simulations and theoretical analyses demonstrate that the proposed single channel quantum color image encryption scheme based on the HSI model and quantum Fourier transform is secure and effective.     

Color Enhancement in Multispectral Image Using the Karhunen-Loeve Transform

We propose a new method for the color enhancement of multispectral image in the visible wavelength region. The purpose of the proposed method is to explore the weak features contained in a specific wavelength by discounting the major color distribution. Such examination will be valuable in visual inspection applications, for example, a medical examination using color image to find a small spectral change of an abnormal part. In this method, Karhunen-Loeve (KL) transform is applied to multispectral data, and specific wavelength components of only high-order KL coefficients are amplified while low-order coefficients are not changed to retain the major color distribution. In the experiment, this method was applied to multispectral images: a printed test image and a human skin image of a bruised arm were captured by a 16-band multispectral camera. The resultant images were compared with the images obtained by saturation enhancement and that obtained by applying the proposed method to the 3-band image. The method successfully visualized the features, which are almost invisible in natural color images, with less change in background color than saturation enhancement.     

Quantum Storage in a Hybrid System with a Photonic Molecule and a Diamond Nitrogen Vacancy Center

We propose an efficient scheme for the realization of high-fidelity quantum storage in a hybrid system with a photonic molecule and a diamond nitrogen vacancy (NV) center. The scheme holds the advantages of both photonic crystal cavities and NV centers. Meanwhile, the influence of quantum-computing process on quantum memory can be effectively eliminated by separating the processor and memory units. Moreover, the scheme is experimentally feasible with currently available technology.     

Large-scale cluster state generation with nuclear spins in diamonds

The cluster state is an indispensable resource for one-way quantum computing (1WQC). We propose a practical scheme for constructing cluster states among nuclear spins in nitrogen-vacancy defect centres (NV centres) in different diamonds. The entanglement of nuclear spins within an NV centre is made by hyperfine coupling via electron spin, and the entanglement between remote NV centres is accomplished using the parity projection of emitted photons. We discus the possibility to build large-scale nuclear-spin cluster states with diamonds.     

Second-order magnetic field gradient-induced strong coupling between nitrogen-vacancy centers and a mechanical oscillator

We consider a cantilever mechanical oscillator (MO) made of diamond. A nitrogen-vacancy (NV) center lies at the end of the cantilever. Two magnetic tips near the NV center induce a strong second-order magnetic field gradient. Under coherent driving of the MO, we find that the coupling between the MO and the NV center is greatly enhanced. We studied how to generate entanglement between the MO and the NV center and realize quantum state transfer between them. We also propose a scheme to generate two-mode squeezing between different MO modes by coupling them to the same NV center. The decoherence and dissipation effects for both the MO and the NV center are numerically calculated using the present parameter values of the experimental configuration. We have achieved high fidelity for entanglement generation, quantum state transfer, and large two-mode squeezing.     

近红外与可见光双通道传感器信息融合的去雾技术

为了对雾霾天气下的图像进行去雾处理,多幅图像去雾算法是常用的方法之一。多幅图像去雾算法也有多种形式,部分算法面临硬件实现困难、获取途径受限或者可实施性弱等问题,而且多幅图像比对处理时常常涉及图像配准,造成算法的实时性差、计算复杂度高等问题。针对以上问题,提出的算法为多幅图像去雾提供了新的思路,基于双目传感器硬件架构能够同时捕获近红外和可见光图像,将近红外传感器图像作为新的数据源,近红外传感器能够在一定程度上穿透雾霾,在雾天捕获可见光传感器无法捕获的图像细节,而且硬件实现简单。可见光图像的颜色信息较丰富,近红外传感器图像对近处场景细节的描述能力较好,捕获的图像稍加校正就能实现完全配准,将近红外图像与可见光图像进行融合,在去雾的同时,可以将近红外传感器图像中的原始细节提取融合到彩色可见光传感器图像中,得到边缘、轮廓等细节信息更加丰富的去雾图像。基于上述思路,借助近红外传感器对边缘细节的描述能力和可见光传感器对颜色信息的反映能力,提出了一种基于近红外与可见光双通道传感器图像融合的去雾算法。首先,将彩色可见光图像转换到HIS彩色空间,分别得到亮度通道图像、色调通道图像和饱和度通道图像。先将其亮度通道图与近红外图像进行融合去雾处理。采用非下采样Shearlet变换（NSST）进行分解,对得到的高频系数进行双指数边缘平滑滤波器保边滤波处理,对低频系数进行反锐化掩蔽处理,通过融合规则和反向变换得到新的亮度通道图像。然后,在对可见光图像的色彩处理中,建立饱和度图的退化模型,采用暗原色原理对参数进行估计,得到估计的饱和度图。最后,将新的亮度通道图像,估计的饱和度图像和原色调图像反映射到RGB空间得到去雾图像。为了验证新算法的有效性,特选取四组雾天拍摄的真实近红外图像与可见光图像进行融合去雾处理,将融合结果与其他两种去雾方法对于彩色可见光图像的去雾效果进行比较。实验结果表明,该算法在提高图像的边缘对比度和视觉清晰度上有较好的效果。并提出将近红外传感器图像作为新的数据源,采用双通道图像融合方法进行去雾处理,为图像去雾提供的新的技术思路是可行的。该算法的优势在于：首先提出将图像融合方法与去雾算法相结合,得到了新的去雾算法的思路。将彩色可见光图像转换到HSI色彩空间,将其亮度通道图与近红外图像采用非下采样Shearlet变换方法进行融合处理,在去雾的同时,可以将近红外传感器图像中的原始细节提取融合到彩色可见光传感器图像中,使得去雾图像中的边缘、轮廓等细节信息更加丰富。其次,提出了在图像去雾算法中采用新的数据源--近红外传感器图像,从图像处理的角度,近红外传感器能够在一定程度上穿透雾霾,对于近处场景细节的描述能力较好,而且硬件实现简单,捕获的图像稍加校正就能实现完全配准,为后续的融合去雾算法带来了便利,为图像去雾提供了新的技术途径和路线。再次,采用的是多幅图像去雾算法,该算法基于双目传感器获取图像,可见光图像的颜色信息较丰富,近红外图像对于近处场景细节的描述能力较好,相对于单幅图像去雾算法,有更好的效果。最后,将可见光传感器图像映射到其他色彩空间,对于每个通道的图像根据其特征有针对性地进行处理。可见光图像的亮度通道图和近红外图像的处理采用了图像融合和增强处理,对于可见光图像饱和度通道的处理采用了图像复原算法,可以从整体上提升去雾效果,对细节特征有了进一步增强。该算法为图像去雾提供了新的技术途径和路线。     

Retinex-Based Fast Algorithm for Low-Light Image Enhancement

We proposed the Retinex-based fast algorithm (RBFA) to achieve low-light image enhancement in this paper, which can restore information that is covered by low illuminance. The proposed algorithm consists of the following parts. Firstly, we convert the low-light image from the RGB (red, green, blue) color space to the HSV (hue, saturation, value) color space and use the linear function to stretch the original gray level dynamic range of the V component. Then, we estimate the illumination image via adaptive gamma correction and use the Retinex model to achieve the brightness enhancement. After that, we further stretch the gray level dynamic range to avoid low image contrast. Finally, we design another mapping function to achieve color saturation correction and convert the enhanced image from the HSV color space to the RGB color space after which we can obtain the clear image. The experimental results show that the enhanced images with the proposed method have better qualitative and quantitative evaluations and lower computational complexity than other state-of-the-art methods.     

Preparating Quantum Entanglement Between Microtoroidal-Resonator–Mediated Nitrogen-Vacancy Centers in Diamond

International Journal of Theoretical Physics - We propose a scheme to prepare entangled states between solid-state nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers. In our scheme, NV centers are coupled to the...     

Securing color image by using phase-only encoding in Fresnel domains

We propose a novel color image hiding scheme with three channels of cascaded Fresnel domain phase-only filtering. The original color image is encoded into three phase masks by using the Gerchberg–Saxton iterative phase retrieval algorithm with another predefined phase key. The individual phase masks are placed in the inputs of the Fresnel domains of the red–green–blue channels and the phase key in the public channel, during the optical retrieval. The physical parameters in the optical system will be regarded as the additional keys for security enhancement. Numerical simulation is performed to test the validity of our scheme.     

One-step Entanglement Generation Between Separated Nitrogen-vacancy Centers Embedded in Photonic Crystal Cavities

We propose a one-step scheme for creating entanglement between two distant nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers, which are placed in separate single-mode nanocavities in a planar photonic crystal (PC). With a laser-driven, the decoherence from the excited states of the NV centers can be effectively suppressed by virtue of the Raman transition in the dispersive regime. With the assistant of a strong classical field, fast operation can be achieved. The experimental feasibility of the scheme is discussed based on currently available technology.     

A false color image fusion method based on multi-resolution color transfer in normalization YCBCR space

In this paper, a false color image fusion method for merging visible and infrared images is proposed. Firstly, the source images and reference image are decomposed respectively by Laplacian pyramid transform. Then the grayscale fused image and the difference images between the normalized source images are assigned to construct YC_BC_R components. In the color transfer step, all the three channels of the color space in each decomposition level are processed with the statistic color mapping according to the color characteristics of the corresponding sub-images of the reference image. Color transfer is designed based on the multi-resolution scheme in order to significantly improve the detailed information of the final image, and to reduce excessive saturation phenomenon to have a comparatively natural color appearance compared with the classical global-coloring algorithm. Moreover, the differencing operation between the normalized source images not only provides inter-sensor contrast to make popping the potential targets but also weakens the influence of the ambient illumination variety to a certain degree. Finally, the fused results and several metrics for evaluation of fused images subjectively and objectively illustrate that the proposed color image fusion algorithm can yield a more complete mental representation of the perceived scene, resulting in better situational awareness.     

Optical encryption scheme for multiple color images using complete trinary tree structure

We propose an optical encryption scheme for multiple color images based on the complete trinary tree structure. In the proposed encryption scheme, the encryption modules (EMs) are taken as branch nodes, and the color components of plain images are input as leaf nodes. In each EM which consists of phase truncated Fresnel transforms and random amplitude-phase masks, three input images are subsequently encoded into a complex function and finally encrypted to a real-value image. The proposed encryption scheme can encrypt multiple color images into a real-value grayscale cipher image, and make different color images have different encryption and decryption paths. By the proposed encryption scheme, we can realize an authority management with high security among multiple users. In addition, the proposed scheme possesses the advantages such as high robustness against various attacks and high encryption efficiency. Moreover, as the number of plain color images increases, high quality of the decrypted color images can still be maintained. Extensive simulation results have shown the performance of the proposed scheme. The proposed scheme can also be directly extended to encrypt multiple gray images.     

Phase-controlled absorption-gain properties and optical switching in nanodiamond nitrogen-vacancy center

We study phase-controlled absorption-gain and dynamic switching behaviors in a nanodiamond nitrogen-vacancy (NV) center. The NV center is driven coherently by a weak probe laser field, a control laser field and a microwave field. To describe the transient behavior of the system, we go beyond the steady-state approximation and simultaneously solve the coupled Bloch–Maxwell equations for the NV center and the probe field on numerical grids as functions of space and time. The results show that the continuous-wave input weak probe field can be switched on and off when the relative phase of the applied field is externally varied periodically in time. The proposed scheme may have applications in the design of optical switching and optical gain devices.     

Color constancy enhancement under poor illumination

In this Letter, the color constancy and its realization were studied and a novel color constancy image enhancement algorithm under poor illumination was presented. The purpose of this algorithm is to maintain the hue of an image during the processing so that the change of saturation can be minimized. The original image was first multiplied by a scale parameter obtained by the adaptive quadratic function to enhance the luminance, and then the edge details were restored by a shifting parameter. Numerical results of the Simon Fraser University (SFU) image database indicated that the proposed algorithm performed much better in preserving the hue and saturation and avoiding color distortion compared with the existing image enhancement algorithms.     

Improving the sharpness of a color image with slowly-varying hues by undertaking its intensity and saturation factors

We demonstrate a brand-new method to sharpen a color image by using the integral mask-filtering technique. The high and low frequency messages between the target pixel and its neighbors are transferred by nonlinear functions. Both intensity and saturation factors of the HSV color system are taken into account. The obtained final image has clearer fine characteristics along with much less overshooting.