A method for forming a volume hologram film having security elements which are formed as a transfer section of the volume hologram film is described, wherein the volume hologram film has n volume hologram layers arranged one over another. The production of the volume hologram film is carried out in a roll-to-roll method with the following method steps: a) providing a carrier film from a supply roll; b) applying an i-th photopolymer layer to the carrier film; c) forming an i-th volume hologram in the photopolymer layer; d) forming an i-th volume hologram layer by curing the i-th photopolymer layer; e) repeating process steps b) to e) n1 times; f) applying an adhesive layer to the background layer; g) winding the volume hologram film onto a take-up roll.

A method and apparatus for in-line manufacture of a security document with a structured security element is provided in which a continuous web of document substrate is fed through a series of processing stations. The processing stations include a station for forming a structured security element in a radiation sensitive coating applied to the document substrate, and at least one station for applying at least one additional layer to the document substrate excluding the security element area. In a security document manufactured with the method or apparatus, the additional layer or layers have a combined thickness which is preferably substantially equal to the height of the structured security element or which differs from the height of the structured security element by a predetermined amount.

The invention relates to a sealed holographic medium comprising a layer construction containing a photopolymer layer and a sealing layer, to a process for producing the sealed holographic medium, to a kit of parts, to a layer construction for sealing and to the use thereof.

The invention relates to a scaled holographic medium comprising a layer construction B-C1-C2, to a process for producing the sealed holographic medium, to a kit of parts, to a layer construction comprising a protective layer and a substrate layer and to the use thereof.

A main object of the present invention is to provide a method of producing a volume hologram laminate which can regenerate a hologram image in an arbitrary wavelength by a simple process. To attain the object, the present invention provides a method of producing a volume hologram laminate using a volume hologram forming substrate which comprises: a substrate, a volume hologram layer formed on the substrate and containing a photopolymerizable material, a resin layer, formed on the substrate so as to contact to the volume hologram layer, containing a resin and a polymerizable compound, characterized in that the producing method comprises processes of: a hologram recording process to record a volume hologram to the volume hologram layer, a substance transit process of transiting the polymerizable compound to the volume hologram layer, and an after-treatment process of polymerizing the polymerizable compound.

A diffractive optical element according to the invention includes a holographic element configured to deflect incident light, a first substrate provided on one surface side of the holographic element, a first dielectric film provided between the first substrate and the holographic element, a second dielectric film provided on another surface side of the holographic element, and a third dielectric film provided on a side surface side of the holographic element.

An object of the present invention is to provide a thin volume hologram sheet to be embedded sufficiently resistant to a mechanical stress such as a stress including a tensile stress, a shear stress and a compression stress at the time of processing even under a heating condition, a forgery prevention paper and a card using the same. The object is achieved by providing a volume hologram sheet to be embedded comprising a volume hologram layer, and a substrate disposed only on one side surface of the volume hologram layer using an adhesion means, wherein a peeling strength of the volume hologram layer and the substrate is 25 gf/25 mm or more.

Photopolymerizable materials and in particular holographic polymer dispersed liquid crystal materials and processes for fabricating holographic waveguide devices from such materials are provided. Materials and formulations of photopolymerizable materials are sufficiently low haze to allow for the omission of adhesives from within the cell of the holographic waveguide devices. The photopolymerizable materials are used in association with methods of manufacturing holographic waveguides such that photopolymerizable materials may be used as an adhesive material.

The invention relates to an apparatus (200, 300, 400, 600) for producing volume reflection holograms with substrate-guided reconstruction beams, comprising:

at least one transparent, planar carrier element (210, 310, 410, 610) comprising a first flat side (210.1) and a further flat side (210.2), at least one master element (206, 306, 406, 606) arrangeable at the first flat side (210.1) of the carrier element (210, 310, 410, 610) and at least one optical input coupling element (102, 202, 302, 402, 602) configured to optically couple a light beam (214, 216), wherein provision is made of at least one coupling portion (104, 204, 304, 404, 604) configured to mechanically establish an optical contact between the input coupling element (102, 202, 302, 402) and at least one holographic recording medium (208, 308, 408) providable on the further flat side (210.2) of the carrier element (210, 310, 410) or configured to mechanically establish an optical contact between the further flat side of the carrier element (610) and at least one holographic recording medium (608) providable on a flat side (605) of the optical input coupling element (602), wherein at least the coupling portion (104, 204, 304, 404, 604) is formed from a material with a shear modulus of between 1000 Pa and 50 MPa, preferably of between 30,000 Pa and 30 MPa.

When coating a document surface (3) having relief-like information (1) carrying personal data, for example, with a monomer-containing liquid UV adhesive (4) across the entire surface and then laminating thereon a volume hologram (2), the varying adhesive thicknesses between the volume hologram and the document surface resulting from the relief cause differentiated swelling and thereby a differentiated color shift of the hologram. After the desired color shift is achieved, the UV adhesive (4) is completely cured. In this way, individual holographic information is obtained, which is located exactly above the relief-like information of the document. With this method, holographic overlays comprising personal data and a passport picture can be produced, and it is possible to link defined optical document information to the hologram in an accurately positioned manner, so that information is visible both non-diffractively and, from a different viewing angle, holographically in a different color.