A forming mold has a surface in contact with a deposited film, a part or an entire part being a first wavy surface. A wave period of the first wavy surface is in a range of 250 nm or more and 500 nm or less. The deposited film conforms to the surface of the forming mold. The first wavy surface includes a plurality of rib surfaces, a plurality of groove surfaces, and a plurality of taper surfaces connecting the rib surfaces to the respective groove surfaces. The deposited film has a peak zone, a valley zone, and a transition zone. One of the peak zone, the valley zone, and the transition zone and another one of the peak zone, the valley zone, and the transition zone are different or has portions different in thickness and/or volume density.

An objective of the present invention is to improve a diffraction grating. A molding member including a substrate and a resist pattern having a surface shape including grooves is prepared. The grooves include bottom portions BP1 and top portions TP1 that are alternately repeated in an X direction, and that each extend in a Y direction. The bottom portions adjacent to each other have an interval that changes stepwise. Next, a metal film is formed on a surface of the resist pattern to cover the grooves, and then the metal film is peeled off from the molding member. As a result, the metal film is formed to have a surface shape reverse to the surface shape of the resist pattern is formed. Top portions TP2 and bottom portions BP2 of the metal film correspond to bottom portions BP1 and top portions TP1 of the resist pattern respectively.

Disclosed is an improved diffraction structure for 3D display systems. The improved diffraction structure includes an intermediate layer that resides between a waveguide substrate and a top grating surface. The top grating surface comprises a first material that corresponds to a first refractive index value, the underlayer comprises a second material that corresponds to a second refractive index value, and the substrate comprises a third material that corresponds to a third refractive index value. According to additional embodiments, improved approaches are provided to implement deposition of imprint materials onto a substrate, which allow for very precise distribution and deposition of different imprint patterns onto any number of substrate surfaces.

An optical product can be configured, when illuminated, to reproduce an image that appears to be a 3D image of at least a part of a 3D object. The optical product can include a surface comprising a plurality of portions. Each portion can correspond to a point on a surface of the 3D object. One or more non-holographic features can be disposed within each portion configured to produce at least part of the image without relying on diffraction. An interference optical structure can be disposed on one or more features. A gradient in the features can correlate to a surface normal of the surface of the 3D object at the corresponding point. An orientation of the features can correlate to an orientation of the surface of the 3D object at the corresponding point.

According to a first aspect, the invention relates to an optical security component intended to be observed in reflection, with the naked eye, according to face of observation. It comprises a first layer made of dielectric material, having a first refractive index (n.sub.1), at least one first diffractive structure (S.sub.1, S.sub.2) etched on said first layer. The first diffractive structure comprises a first pattern with at least one set of modules disposed side-by-side, in a given direction (X) of arrangement, a maximum width (l) of each module defined in the direction of arrangement (X) being less than 300 μm. Each module comprises a bas-relief with a first set of facets whose forms are determined to simulate an optical element visible in reflection, with at least one convex or concave region, said optical element having a profile with a continuously variable slope in a single direction (Y), said direction of variation of the slope, at right angles to the direction of arrangement (X). For two modules side-by-side, the slope along at least one line parallel to the direction (X) of arrangement is different between said two modules.

In an embodiment a nanostamping method includes forming a nanostructure in a layer of optical embossing material on a first carrier substrate by a forming stamp having a nano-relief, wherein the nanostructure comprises a plurality of nano-elevations which are connected via an embossing material base, generating a coated nanostructure by covering the nano-elevations with a filler material layer, wherein the filler material layer and the optical embossing material comprise different refractive indices, applying a second carrier substrate on the coated nanostructure, detaching the first carrier substrate and removing a material of the embossing material base.

A plasma etching method using a Faraday cage which is capable of inhibiting the formation of a needle-like structure and forming a pattern portion having a depth gradient on an etching base.

A diffractive pigment includes diffractive pigment, includes a stack including alternating layers of a high refractive index layer and a low refractive index layer, in which the high refractive index layer is a composition including an organic material and high refractive index inorganic nanoparticles; in which at least one layer of the stack is embossed. A method of making a diffractive pigment is also disclosed.

A security device for security documents provides an angle-dependent Moire effect. A security device for a security document and method for making the security device are provided. At least two interlaced laser engraved images form an angle dependent parallax effect. First and second images are laser engraved at a substrate of the security document. To render the security device more difficult to copy, a colour changing effect or a nonreciprocal transmission effect may be achieved by adding a coloured (absorptive or emissive) layer between or within non-laser engravable layers situated between the laser engravable layers, and/or by adding a patterned phase diffraction grating situated between the laser engravable layers.

A vehicle applique includes a base structure and a polymeric coating disposed on the base structure. The polymeric coating at least partially covers an outer surface of the base structure. A diffraction grating is integrally defined by the polymeric coating. The diffraction grating has a thickness in a range of from about 100 nm to about 300 nm.