Security Layer
Not simple decoration
Sometimes it takes decades for the scientific invention to find its practical application
It was exactly the way of the method of volume representation recording, offered by D.Gabor in 1947.
Hologram, which means " whole representation" from Greek, is in fact an interferential picture of the recording of the wave front with its subsequent restoration with the help of phenomena of defraction.
The first not very successful attempts of hologram getting were undertaken with the help of mercury-quartz lamp.
Nowadays hologram originals recording is made with several technologies- this is laser recording and different variants of optical recording.
Hologram is an effective technology of documents and securities protection.
Professor of Moscow state university, the president of the Center of computer holography
Alexander GONCHARSKIY told the magazine "Watermark" about the market of protective holograms.
— Has the technology of creating of holographic representation changed since its appearing? What is it now?
— Now protective holograms have many names. This is an English word OVD (Optical variable device), what is better not to translate in principal. These are cinegrams, picselgrams and others. Modern technologies have developed so far from optical recording technology, used on the first stages. Now only one common name is left.
For example, the activity our center does is computer-synthesized holograms. The original recording itself is carried out with an electronic ray. Being formed by this way, microrelief has a size less than a length of visual light wave. The size of a picsel is 0,1 micron per 0,1 micron. For example, the diameter of a human hair is 50-60 microns.
— When did the first holograms start developing not only as fine art and an object of scientific research, but as the technology of protection for documents, securities and other goods?
— Actually, till the appearance of the notion of protective hologram the attitude towards them was odd. For example, There is a hologram representation of a diamond hanging in the shop. The effect is excellent, but you will not buy it for home. The real diamond is preferable. The special lightning was necessary to look at these holograms. That time nobody could estimate how much the invention would be useful.
Science is developing due to its own laws. The questions if anybody has or hasn"t need in any invention are wrong in their sense. The invention can be lying on the shelf for 20 years, but then "grow" into something absolutely new. For example, tomography. In ideas it was born just at the beginning of last century, but "grew" only 20 years ago. Nowadays tomography device is existing in every clinic, where it"s impossible to make any diagnosis without it.
Now there is a boom of holography, because it has found effective application in the fight with counterfeits.
Now there is a boom of holography, because it has found effective application in the fight with counterfeits. The people appeared who have worked out the technology of mass production of protective holograms. As the result the price of the hologram protection appeared to be little, but effectiveness of the protection became very high.
The very first mass protective holograms were "pigeons", being placed on the plastic cards Visa about 15 years ago. After obvious success of Visa and MasterCard almost all plastic cards have got holograms.
— Can you speak of hologram to be a panacea from counterfeits? Or there is a chance of copying this protection either?
— As for overworld statistics of counterfeit of all kinds of goods, it concerns about 250-300 billion dollars a year, without taking into account banknotes and plastic cards. It means 5-7% of annual turnover of all world countries. To the regret there is no official statistics of counterfeiting goods, protected by hologram, and we find it as a problem, because we can"t recognize the level of effectiveness of our technology influence proper.
The most difficult about counterfeits region is West-Asian, where the counterfeit level of some kinds of goods reaches 90-95%. Everything is copied and even protective holograms.
— As far as I understand, in most cases we can speak not about full copying, but imitation. Is it possible to read information from a holographic relief and to make up back technological process, having received a matrix close to the basic original?
— There are some levels of protection.
Firstly, for copying electronic-radial holograms it is necessary to have proper equipment with the price from 3 million dollars to 50 million dollars. This kind of counterfeit is unreasonable from economic point of view. But let"s guess the adventure is financially proved.
Secondly, specialists of highest qualifications are demanded, able to work on electronic-radial generators, to make reverse mathematics problems, to take up mathematics modeling and etc. This knowledge in full amount is impossible to be got even in Oxford or in Moscow state university. It is demanded to work in the field for decades.
Thirdly, the hologram itself, placed on the foil, is protected repeatedly. Surely it is impossible to be copied by any printing method. Nothing can be seen in the optical microscope. Even an electronic microscope can save swindlers. It is impossible to see the microrelief of the picture, because the foil consists of several layers of different compositions, making reaching the microrelief impossible. While trying to put the top layers off or to take the hologram out of the surface the foil is spoilt together with the representation microrelief. If only the hologram is very simple and made by acceptable optical technology, frequently it"s possible to go all stages of creating through and to receive not the same but very similar hologram.
The holograms, produced by us, except visual security features, contain a lot of signs and microtexts and etc., invisible for sight, but caught by special devices. Complex programs contain about 200 Giga bite of information. So, for differentiating a counterfeit from an original, a customer usually gets "Talmud" with the list and description of expert features. It means that serious counterfeits of holograms, made by electronic-radial technology, are economically unprofitable.
— How hard is the present competition in the production of electronic-radial holograms?
— There are less than 10 firms in the world, able to make these things. For example, in Japan it is DIA Nippon, in Europe- Kurz. There is a company in Australia and others.
In Russia these holograms can be made in scientific center "Atlas", closed company "First printing yard", closed company "KPZT". The main difficulty in the production of holograms by electronic-radial method is calculation of the hologram microrelief, connected with making complex reverse problems.
As for optical methods of the originals recording, they are used by a great number of firms both in Russia and abroad.
— Holograms, except advantages, have certain disadvantages. Many people, looking at holograms, accept it as 100% protection. For example, there are cases, when just small gift pieces of foil were stuck on the false euro banknotes, and people considered it to be hologram.
— The problem of educating and informing the population is actual for all protective technologies. Alas, but I myself don"t check up money. It is not traditional for us. To suspect everybody in giving you counterfeits is uncomfortable at all. We were not prepared for it.
The fact a person doesn"t know anything is absolutely normal. Necessary to use such magazines like yours, radio and TV broadcasts for education. Necessary to change attitude towards important documents and securities. Did you compare how, for example, a citizen of Germany and a citizen of Russia fold money? One is packing it very carefully into the wallet, but another one is crumpling and putting into the pocket helter-skelter. We participated in the order for producing passports. One of the problems was in habits of our citizens to carry their passports not in the side pockets, but in the back ones and to sit on them. It is a problem of teaching cultural attitude towards documents.
— What is the most difficult in the fight with swindlers?
— Here we again get a problem mutual for all protective technologies.
We can make superprotective hologram, but the main is to draw up the procedure of control and checking up. It means-who and how is conducting control and checking up, what kind of devices, how often. What authorities, who has the right of control. For example, if I ,as a creator of the most holograms in RF, come to the shop and ask;" Well, let me see what you have. Oh, but it is a counterfeit…"
What may be the end of the episode, I don"t know, because I, as a citizen, haven"t got any authorities for controlling. Or I have? Nowadays there is a certain system, but I"d like for it to be more effective. And one more. We haven"t got official data about counterfeits. For example, we are making superprotective holograms, but I have no official information how much it decreases the level of counterfeits and illegal turnover of production.
— Are there cases of accidental counterfeits?
— Do you mean that the manufacturer can happen to create the original of the hologram, absolutely matching with the existing one yet?
If it is possible it"s right only for completely primitive holograms. For our holograms with the amount of information of 200 Giga bite "an accidental" counterfeit is impossible. An "unaccidental" either. Moreover, in International association of hologram producers IMHA, where our Center of computer holography is included too, there is a special register, containing created holograms, what a given certificate testifies about. The patterns are placed into the general data base. This is an only international organization, registering holograms.
— What is the present volume of the market of protective holograms?
— The market is going up dramatically. Very many holographic elements are used for protection of money and plastic cards, because holograms are only one from the elements of protective technologies. I can hardly estimate the volume of the world market, but it is millions dollars a year.
— How is holographic protection expensive for consumers? What quantity of copies may be the reason for using protective holograms from economic point of view?
— An order of every hologram is individual. I can say that for millions printing the price of one hologram might drop to 0,01 dollar. The price of a hologram might be different and depends on the circulation primary. You are not surprised that, for example, the price of a fireball wheel of Formula I costs about 50 thousand dollars, but the price of "Zhiguli" wheel- about 1500 rubles.
We had an order, when we made 24 copies of the most complicated protective holograms with the size of inch by inch. We offered to present the customer 25th hologram. But the client"s demands were very severe. It means only 24 copies were needed. All the models and matrixes of the order were destroyed just after the work completing. It is usual practice for everybody working in the field of protective technology. Surely, the price of one hologram was enough high, but the clients found the order reasonable.
Egor Shadurskiy
