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Nanophotonic Materials

Photograph of visible green fluorescence from a label with an optical tag (three dots printed using the nano-ink from SSSOT) attached to a plastic bag and illuminated with a 200-mW laser diode (black cylinder in the middle) with a 980-nm wavelength. The photograph was taken with a consumer-grade digital photographic camera at room light through a green color plastic filter blocking the infra-red radiation from the laser. The white substance in the plastic bag is a piece of cotton. 

Fluorescent phosphor nano-inks for printing passive optical tags with infra-red readout

Counterfeit products present a significant threat to the global security and trade. There is already a sizeable global market for anti-counterfeit packaging expected to grow from $82.05B/year in 2015 to $153.95B/year by 2020 at a rate of 13.41%. Approximately half of this market belongs to the segment of taggants, inks/dies, and labels.

 

SSS Optical Technologies (SSSOT) offers phosphor nano-inks for printing passive optical tags that are:  

  • resilient to the environment;

  • health and environment safe;

  • inexpensive;

  • suitable for inexpensive readout light sources.

 

Our fluorescent phosphor nano-inks:

  • have invisible (infra-red - IR) readout (980-nm laser diode);

  • have fluorescence in ultra-violet (376 nm); visible (476, 540, 647 nm); IR (698, 751, 840, 1530 nm);

  • have an average particle diameter of ~ 100 nm;

  • have a fluorescence quantum efficiency of ~ 0.6% (at 540 nm);

  • can be uniformly dispersed in various solvents.

Optical emission from a nano-ink sample: (a) Photograph (taken with the digital camera of iPhone 6) of a 10-mm-thick fluoroscopic cuvette with the nano-ink. The streak of visible light inside the cuvette is the visible fluorescence generated by a 980-nm laser beam propagating from the right to the left through the nano-ink. (b) Spectrum of IR fluorescence from the nano-ink. (c) Spectrum of visible fluorescence from the nano-ink.

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