Infrared to protect information.

• Author: Swartz, Nikki
• Position: UP FRONT: News, Trends & Analysis - Xerox Corp. - Brief article

Protecting everyday documents such as tickets, deeds, and licenses against forgery has traditionally been cost-prohibitive and difficult. But that may change, with the introduction of Xerox's inexpensive new infrared technology.

InfraRedMark embeds ordinary documents printed with common toners on standard color digital printing equipment with patterns or text that can be read only with infrared light. The technology relies on certain optical characteristics of printing colorants--toners, inks, dyes--that enable two colorant mixtures to appear the same under normal light but different under infrared light, Xerox scientist Raja Bala, told Photonics.com.

According to Bala, many color laser printers feature carbon-based black toner, which absorbs infrared light, while the other-colored toners--cyan, magenta, and yellow--do not. This means it is possible to find two toner...