Unison is a new class of highly counterfeit and simulation resistant micro-optic security films that provide a wide range of overt, unique, and highly visible three-dimensional and fluidic motion visual effects for currency, document, and product authentication by the general public. Unlike holograms, interference films, and diffractive OVDs, Unison incorporates micron-scale geometrical optic systems to create synthetic images that exhibit striking visual effects that are independent of illumination angle and collimation. Unison presents a pattern of visually dynamic, non-holographic, colored images that are seen against either a transparent or an opaque background. These images can be designed to either float above the surface, appear beneath the surface, or appear in the plane of the surface and to move in a counter-intuitive ortho-parallactic manner. Unison can be used as a laminate over print without obscuring it; the Unison images appear to move within, under, or over the print. Unison images can be viewed under all lighting conditions from any azimuthal angle and from a wide range of elevation angles. This new material is highly resistant to counterfeiting because it is an all-polymer multi-layer film that contains no metallized layers and its non-diffractive optical elements are based on proprietary origination, tooling, and manufacturing processes.
Holograms have been utilized to authenticate financial instruments and high value products for many years. The security provided by embossed holograms is limited by their low surface relief, typically 0.25 micron, which makes them susceptible to counterfeiting: stripping the hologram from the substrate exposes the complete holographic microstructure which can be easily used to create counterfeit tooling. A large improvement in counterfeit deterrence can be gained by the use of high precision non-holographic micro-optics and microstructures having a surface relief greater than a few microns. An unlimited range of distinctive optical effects can be obtained from micro-optic systems. Many of the possible optical effects, such as optical interactions between discrete elements, cannot be effectively simulated by any other means, including holography. We present descriptions of five Visual Physics document authentication micro-optic systems that provide sophisticated optical effects: Virtual Image, BackLite, Encloak, Optical Black, and Structural Color . Visual Physics document authentication micro-optics impose an additional level of counterfeit deterrence because the production of polymer films incorporating these microstructures requires unconventional manufacturing methods; conventional holographic reproduction processes, typical of hologram counterfeiting operations, are inadequate to faithfully reproduce the details and the function of these micro-optic elements. We have developed mastering, tooling, and high precision/high speed manufacturing processes that can faithfully replicate these complex surface relief micro-optics at low cost.
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