A student at Simon Fraser University (SFU) in Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada researched a new method based on nanotechnology for stopping counterfeiters, which has led to the founding of a new company to develop the product. Nanotechnology uses materials at nanometer scale, with one nanometer equal to one billionth of a meter.
Clint Landrock, an SFU applied sciences graduate student who has since graduated, started a research project under the guidance of engineering science professor Bozena Kaminska into the interaction of nanotechnology and light. His goal was replicate the natural phenomenon of tropical butterflies, which use unique patterns to absorb and reflect light to give off their signature colors.
The research led to nanostructures that could capture a single wavelength of light, 1,500 times thinner than a human hair. The nanostructures interact with light to produce a unique shimmering iridescence like the Costa Rican morpho butterfly (pictured right). The nanostructures act to reflect and refract light waves to produce the morpho’s signature blue wings and absorb other unwanted light.
Landrock and Kaminska pitched their idea to Doug Blakeway, SFU’s entrepreneur in residence, who was intrigued by the technology’s potential. One immediate application Blakeway saw for the discovery is paper currency. Paper currency, also called banknotes, contain several security features, such as hologram strips, security threads woven into the paper, watermarks, color-shifting inks, raised type, and UV inks.
The team of Landrock, Kaminska, and Blakeway founded I|D|ME Development Corp., to develop the technology into a product. Nanotech Security Corp., another company led by Blakeway, is taking the product, called N.O.t.E.S – Nano-Optic Technology for Enhanced Security, to market. According to Blakeway, the team’s discovery -– which has attracted the attention of treasuries internationally -– is superior to holograms and cannot be duplicated.
While the technology is first being applied to paper currency, it has other practical applications, including the authentication of legal documents, retail merchandise, concert tickets, stock certificates, visas, passports, and pharmaceuticals.
Photo: Armando Maynez/Flickr
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