Abstract
A quantum color image encryption algorithm based on geometric transformation and intensity channel diffusion was designed. Firstly, a plaintext image was transformed into a quantum state form using the quantum image representation based on HSI color space (QIRHSI) representation as a carrier. Next, a pseudo-random sequence was generated using the generalized logistic map, and the pixel positions permuted multiple two-point swap operations. Immediately afterward, the intensity values were changed by an intensity bit-plane cross-swap and XOR, XNOR operations. Finally, the intensity channel of the above image was diffused in combination with the pseudo-confusion sequence as produced by the quantum logistic map to perform a diffusion operation on the intensity bit-plane to obtain the ciphertext image. Numerical simulations and analyses show that the designed algorithm is implementable and robust, especially in terms of outstanding performance and less computational complexity than classical algorithms in terms of security perspective.