Glossary

A holographic image style created by a series of two-dimensional planes of artwork that are layered into the image volume of the hologram.

A holographic image style that places a two-dimensional plane of artwork at, in front of, or behind the image plane of the hologram. 

An optical system free from dispersion or used to describe a colourless (grey tone monochrome) holographic image.

An overt security feature identified by sight or touch alone. See also Passive security feature.

A means of sticking two surfaces together. In the anticounterfeiting context label adhesive should allow effective application but prevent unauthorised removal.

Artificial intelligence systems that operate with a certain level of autonomy and intentionality. Unlike generative AI systems, which only respond to specific prompts or tasks given by users, agentic AI systems are designed to take independent actions, pursue goals, or make decisions based on a set of objectives or desired outcomes. This type of AI can proactively seek information, adapt to changing environments, and perform tasks without direct human oversight.

Using a wristwatch as an example, an analogue watch uses the movement of hands over a dial to represent passing time. It’s not the same thing as time itself, but an analogy of time. Sometimes contrasted with ‘digital’, a numeric representation of information.

Technical measures designed to prevent or detect counterfeiting and other forms of illicit trade. Not synonymous with non-secure track and trace technologies used for purely logistic purposes (codes on mail items for example).

A topcoat layer added to the surface of any number of materials, including adhesive materials such as labels and tape. The film contains a bacteria-blocking agent called Agion, produced by combining silver ions and zeolite.

A feature such as a secure closure specifically used to resist the opening of a container or identify that a container has been opened.

Software on a mobile device used to link the holder to a specific web page/service.

The theory and development of computer systems able to perform tasks that normally require human intelligence, such as visual perception, speech recognition, decision-making, and translation between languages.

A technology that superimposes a computer-generated image onto a user’s actual view of the real world. AR devices often use the term ‘hologram’ to describe the heightened visual reality they provide.

Something that is real, genuine, valid, of undisputed origin. Authentication is the process of confirming that a product, document or even person is authentic.

The process of determining that a product, document or even person is authentic.

A type of holographic recording that combines features of off-axis and volume recording schemes, with the result being a phase-quantised, or terraced surface relief pattern. The groove profile, instead of being sinusoidal, resembles a stepped pyramid.

An optical device that divides a beam of light into two beams.

A diffraction grating which has a sawtooth profile structure.

In the pharmaceutical context, a plastic or laminate tray with separate wells for each pill, sealed with blister foil.

A wireless network of wearable devices.

The diffractive principle by which a layered stack of parallel reflecting surfaces of alternate higher and lower refractive index will reflect a beam of light, only when the reflected wavefronts are of an appropriate wavelength and orientation to produce constructive interference.

Any hologram in which the Bragg condition is preferential to the grating condition in forming the image. See also Volume hologram.

Text readable by touch, consisting of raised dots. Often used on cardboard outer packs and mandatory in some jurisdictions.

Refers to how energy moves between conductive elements separated by insulators. Capacitive touchscreens, found on smartphones, tablets and other mobile devices, are made up of multiple layers of glass and plastic, coated with a conductor material like indium tin oxide or conductive polymers. This conductive material responds when in contact with another electrical conductor, like a bare human finger.

A method of hologram embossing in which a film of soft resin is applied to a nickel shim then exposed to ultraviolet light, causing the resin to harden by crosslinking. The resin film can then be removed and retains a faithful copy of the surface relief image that was present on the shim. This method of transferring an image from a nickel shim onto a plastic film, results in a bright image and causes very little wear to the shim.

A surface that envelopes the light rays reflected or refracted by a curved mirror or interface.

A hologram created with chromium-based foil for use in high security vehicle registration plates. Generally used in India.

A classic hologram is usually made using a 3D object, often a model. A laser beam is split in two and part of it is diverted onto the object, then reflected off it and allowed to combine (or interfere) with the other part of the beam known as the reference beam. The classic hologram is a recording of the interference pattern between the object and reference beams. A well-known example of a classic hologram is the dove used by Visa on its credit cards.

A non-printed area of a substrate which is transparent when viewed against the light. In ID, a clear window is used for applying an additional image of the holder, as a verification filter or for visualising latent scrambled information.

Light that passes through an optical system parallel to the optical axis, for instance where the direction of illumination and direction of observation are in parallel. Coaxial light is used to reveal hidden motifs in retroreflective laminate.

The degree to which photons in a beam of light are in phase.

A foil application process that does not require heat.

An optically variable effect whereby a material – usually a thin film or ink – changes from one colour to another, or from one colour to clear, when the viewing angle is altered.

A government agency designated to implement a system, such as a tax stamp and track and trace solution.

A technique that uses computational methods to calculate the interference pattern that would have been created by a reference beam interfering with an object beam. The pattern is printed onto a mask or film to be viewed using illumination from a suitable light source.

A packaging supplier who converts raw materials (paper, carton, board, aluminium foil etc.) into finished packaging components. The term is often used as a loose synonym for a packaging printer and the two functions are often combined into the same supplier.

The illegal production and sale of goods (including packaging) bearing a trademark that is identical to a validly registered trademark or that cannot be distinguished from such a trademark. Also refers to the reproduction of a banknote or security document that looks authentic but has been manufactured fraudulently with the intent to deceive the public.

An image, symbol or text that is invisible to the unaided eye as well as under a microscope, but that can be visualised by a laser beam. It is formed when recording a hologram image using e-beam lithography, as a 1 micron-sized area on the hologram surface.

Covert (or hidden) features require a detector or instrument in their detection, which are usually only available to officials such as enforcement authorities and central banks.The general public and supply chain operators generally do not know about these features.

A two-stage process in which metal, usually aluminium, is deposited onto a hologram or OVD and then selectively removed in order to create a design. The removal is achieved by either first printing a protective resin onto the metallic layer then dissolving away the unprotected metal, or ablating the metal with a laser beam. Used for security threads and foils in banknotes.

A chemical-gelatin mix that produces very bright images in a golden-yellow colour. The images have limited depth but can be viewed in extended light sources of poor quality. See also Volume hologram.

A hardened metal tool, the face of which carries an engraved design for cutting or shaping low-strength materials, such as fibre, foil, paper, plastics, pressure-sensitive labels and sheet metal. Dies are used to create coins from metal blanks.

The phenomenon whereby lightwaves are bent as a result of passing through small apertures or around small objects or lines whose dimensions are comparable to the light wavelength. Of particular interest are gratings (a pattern of such lines) because these have the ability to bend light of different wavelengths by different amounts. Hence, they produce a prismatic effect of splitting white light into the colours of the rainbow – a feature typical to most DOVIDs.

A collective term for images that display complex visual effects that change according to the viewing angle, based on the phenomenon of diffraction. These effects are varied and typically three-dimensional, kinetic (exhibiting movement), multichannel (where one image, or part of an image, changes into another) or animated (ie. stereograms). DOVIDs include holograms, Kinegrams and other diffractive features.

The reproduction (as in counterfeiting) of documents and packaging using digital reprographic technology.

The storage, transmission, manipulation and reproduction of data, images, sounds, etc., by a process that uses groups of electronic bits represented as 1 or 0.

An origination method that uses a single laser beam to create high-resolution structures on a photoresist.

A surface relief hologram built up from an array of tiny diffractive gratings arranged at certain angles. The ‘dots’ are a point at which two microscopic beams of laser light meet at an angle and produce an interference pattern. In a dot matrix machine, a mechanical arrangement moves this point of light in a matrix pattern relative to a photosensitive plate. According to the final image required, the angle at which each dot is exposed into the matrix is determined by mathematical calculation. It is thus possible to construct fully synthetic images of objects that never existed in real life.

In holography, this refers to the brightness of an image. It is the ratio of diffracted to incident light intensity.

The process of converting a holographic image from photoresist or plastic to metal (nickel). See also Shim.