| AES | Advanced encryption standard |
| AT | Amplitude-truncated |
| BE | Beam expander |
| BR | Bacteriorhodopsin film |
| BS | Beam splitter |
| CC | Cross-correlation |
| CCA | Chosen-ciphertext attack |
| CCD | Charge-coupled device camera |
| CGH | Computer generated hologram |
| CMOS | Complementary metal-oxide semiconductor |
| COA | Ciphertext-only attack |
| CPA | Chosen-plaintext attack |
| CS | Compressive sensing |
| CT | Computed tomography |
| 1D | One-dimensional |
| 2D | Two-dimensional |
| 3D | Three-dimensional |
| DCT | Discrete cosine transform |
| DES | Data encryption standard |
| DH | Digital holography |
| DOE | Diffractive optical element |
| DRPE | Double random phase encoding |
| DWT | Discrete wavelet transform |
| EFJPS | Encrypted fractional joint power spectrum |
| EMD | Equal modulus decomposition |
| ERA | Error reduction algorithm |
| FT | Fourier transform |
| FFT | Fast Fourier transform |
| FRT | Fractional Fourier transform |
| FrT | Fresnel transform |
| FWT | Fractional wavelet transform |
| GSA | Gerchberg–Saxton algorithm |
| GT | Gyrator transform |
| GWT | Gyrator wavelet transform |
| HIOA | Hybrid input–output algorithm |
| HM | Holographic mask |
| HOE | Holographic optical element |
| HT | Hartley transform |
| HWP | Half wave plate |
| IDEA | International data encryption algorithm |
| IFT | Inverse Fourier transform |
| JPS | Joint power spectrum |
| JTC | Joint transform correlator |
| KPA | Known-plaintext attack |
| LC | Liquid crystal |
| LCT | Linear canonical transform |
| LCTV | Liquid crystal television |
| LED | Light-emitting diode |
| MATLAB | Matrix laboratory |
| MEMS | Micro-electro-mechanical systems |
| MO | Microscope objective |
| MGSA | Modified Gerchberg–Saxton algorithm |
| MRI | Magnetic resonance imaging |
| MSE | Mean square error |
| MZI | Mach–Zehnder interferometer |
| NIST | National Institute of Standards and Technology |
| NPCR | Number of pixel change rate |
| OAC | Optical asymmetric cryptosystem |
| OD | Optical device |
| PCE | Peak-to-correlation energy |
| PCF | Phase contrast filter |
| PCI | Photon counting imaging |
| PD | Plastic diffuser |
| PI | Peak intensity |
| PK | Private key |
| POCSA | Projection-onto constraints sets algorithm |
| POF | Phase-only function |
| POM | Phase-only mask |
| PPM | Plasmonic phase mask |
| PRA | Phase retrieval algorithm |
| PRX | Photorefractive crystal |
| PSDOE | Polarization selective diffractive optical element |
| PSI | Phase-shifting interferometry |
| PSNR | Peak signal-to-noise ratio |
| PSR | Peak-to-sidelobe ratio |
| PT | Phase-truncated |
| PTFT | Phase-truncated Fourier transform |
| QPS | Quadratic phase system |
| QR | Quick response code |
| QWP | Quarter wave plate |
| RAM | Random amplitude mask |
| RE | Relative error |
| RGB | Red, green, blue |
| RP | Retardation plate |
| RPM | Random phase mask |
| RSAA | Rivest, Shamir, Adleman algorithm |
| SAA | Simulated annealing algorithm |
| SC | Symmetric cryptosystems |
| SHA | Secure hash algorithm |
| SLM | Spatial light modulator |
| SNR | Signal-to-noise ratio |
| SPM | Structured phase mask |
| SSE | Sum squared error |
| SWG | Subwavelength grating |
| UACI | Unified average change in intensity |
| VAR | Variance |
| VLC | VanderLugt correlator |
| WT | Wavelet transform |
| XOR | Exclusive OR |
