A retroreflector includes an arrangement of triples, each having three side surfaces, which are disposed in the manner of a cube corner and stand approximately perpendicular on one another. The retroreflector can be produced from a carrier material by injection molding. An optical silicone resin is used as the carrier material. The retroreflector is based on triple mirrors that are both easily unmolded from a die and easily applied to curved surfaces even after unmolding or are usable for reflection of ultraviolet light.

The invention provides a reflector (2) comprising a reflector wall (20), the reflector wall (20) comprising a first wall surface (22) and a second wall surface (23) defining said reflector wall (20), the reflector wall (20) comprising a light transmissive material (21), wherein the reflector wall (20) has a first dimension (d1) and a second dimension (d2) defining a first reflector wall area, wherein each wall surface (22,23) comprises a plurality of parallel arranged elongated corrugations (210), wherein the corrugations have corrugation heights (h2) relative to recesses (220) between adjacent corrugations (210) and corrugation widths (w2) defined by the distance between adjacent recesses (220) at the respective wall surfaces (22,23), wherein the corrugations (210) have curved corrugation surfaces (230) between said adjacent recesses (220) having corrugation radii (r2) at the respective wall surfaces (22,23), and wherein over at least part of one of the first dimension (d1) and the second dimension (d2) one or more of (i) the corrugation heights (h2), (ii) the corrugation widths (w2), (iii) the corrugation radii (r2), and (iv) a shortest top-top distance (w12) of corrugations tops (211) configured at different wall surfaces (22,23) vary over said wall dimension (d1,d2) for at least one of the wall surfaces (22,23). The reflector (2) has a first end (3) and a second end (4), wherein a third distance (d3) between the first end (3) and the second end (4) is bridged by one or more reflector walls (20), wherein the one or more reflector walls (20) are configured tapering from the second end (4) to the first end (3), and wherein the reflector (2) has a reflector cavity (5).

A method for manufacturing an optical element includes forming an optical element unit comprised of an optical material such as glass and having an outer shape of a regular triangle or a regular hexagon, arranging a plurality of optical element units two-dimensionally on a substrate so as to have a structure imitating a molecular structure of graphene or a carbon nanotube, and processing the substrate on which the plurality of optical element units are mounted into a desired surface shape.

A decorative film that exhibits visual effects such as, e.g., stereoscopic effect, luxurious feel, and the like; and can also exhibit complex flip-flop properties that have expansion, depth, fluctuation, and the like, and whereby a pattern can be made visible or invisible depending on the viewing angle. In one embodiment, the decorative film can include, in order, a base layer and, adjacent to the base layer, a brightening layer having a concavo-convex surface; or a brightening base layer including a brightening material and having a concavo-convex surface; adjacent to the brightening layer or the brightening base layer, a transparent resin layer; and, adjacent to the transparent resin layer, a semi-transparent metallic layer.

The present invention relates to a method of producing an optically detectable and retro-reflective medical tracking marker, wherein electromagnetic energy is applied to at least one section of a retro-reflective surface of a marker structure in an amount that is sufficient to alter the material properties of the retro-reflective surface, such that the capability of reflecting electromagnetic radiation of the at least one section is reduced to a second capability of reflecting electromagnetic radiation. The present invention further relates to a corresponding retro-reflective medical tracking marker and a corresponding use thereof.

Techniques are disclosed to enable manufacture of open-air corner-cube retroreflectors having a corner-cube cavity. The techniques involve additively forming a substrate by way of additive manufacturing technologies such as three-dimensional printing technologies. The techniques further involve optionally machining the additively formed surface of the substrate and replicating a reflective surface in the corner-cube cavity using a master that is coated with a reflective material. An adhesive is applied to the corner-cube cavity so that when the adhesive cures and the master is withdrawn from the corner-cube cavity, the reflective surface adheres to the adhesive and remains an integral part of the retroreflector.

A robust sintered retroreflective composite comprising, a core bead, a peripheral bead, and an interphase coating. The bead can be used in typical retroreflective indicia and uses.

A retroreflector includes an arrangement of triples, each having three side surfaces, which are disposed in the manner of a cube corner and stand approximately perpendicular on one another. The retroreflector can be produced from a carrier material by injection molding. An optical silicone resin is used as the carrier material. The retroreflector is based on triple mirrors that are both easily unmolded from a die and easily applied to curved surfaces even after unmolding or are usable for reflection of ultraviolet light.

Retroreflective sheeting having a structured layer of cube corner elements and an at least one optically variable mark therein, and methods of making same.

A gimmick expression medium producing method forms a gimmick expression medium 300. The gimmick expression medium 300 includes a retroreflective medium 1. A printing medium 301 placed on the retroreflective medium 1 includes a light-transmission layer 302. A gimmick print 303 which varies color of reflective light of the retroreflective medium 1 to produce a gimmick effect is printed on the light-transmission layer 302. The printing medium 301 is provided with a light-blocking layer 304 which partially blocks reflective light reflected by the retroreflective medium 1. The light-blocking layer 304 is composed of a white printing layer, and a reflection picture print 305 is printed on the light-blocking layer 304. The reflection pattern printing 305 and the gimmick print 303 are placed in adjacent to each other using a stripe-shaped (or dot-shaped) lattice pattern 306, printing which can be seen on a printed matter under normal illumination and printing which can be seen under light source such as flash light can be printed at one time (one-pass) by the same printer.