Imaging and recording of information utilizing a tellurium tetrahalide complex of an aromatic amine

A method for producing an image comprising:

• providing a layer including an imaging material in the form of a tellurium tetrahalide adduct of an aromatic amine in which nitrogen attached directly or indirectly to the aromatic radical is substituted by alkyls each containing from 1 to 4 carbon atoms and being free from diazo groups, and a separate spectral sensitizer, applying imaging energy in the form of particle or wave radiation to certain portions of said layer to form a latent image,
• and then subjecting said latent image to heat and/or reducing sugars to convert said latent image into a developed image defined by crystals of tellurium.

A method for producing a record of retrievable information comprising:

• (a) providing a layer in the form of a matrix of a glassy, amorphous material which has a glass transition temperature and which carries an imaging material which inherently possesses spectral sensitizer properties and/or is admixed with a separate spectral sensitizer, said imaging material being in the form of a tellurium tetrahalide adduct of an aromatic amine in which nitrogen attached directly or indirectly to the aromatic radical is substituted by alkyls each containing from 1 to 4 carbon atoms and being free from diazo groups, said imaging material being of one structure and having one detectable characteristic which is capable of undergoing a change under the influence of imaging energy to produce a material of different structure having another detectable characteristic,
• (b) selectively applying to said layer imaging energy in the form of particle or wave radiation to form a latent image, with or without the aid of a spectral sensitizer, which latent image is essentially not a record of retrievable information;
• and developing, through the utilization of heat, either simultaneously with or subsequently to the application of said imaging energy, to produce in the exposed areas an image which is a record of retrievable information constituted by the atoms of the element tellurium.

An article for producing a record of retrievable information in the form of a dry-to-the-touch layer comprising an imaging layer including a normally solid polymeric matrix containing an imaging material and a separate spectral sensitizer for the imaging material, said spectral sensitizer being capable of absorbing photons from particle or wave radiation whereby to form a latent image, said imaging material comprising an imaging organo-tellurium material in the form of a tellurium tetrahalide adduct of an aromatic amine in which nitrogen attached directly or indirectly to the aromatic radical is substituted by alkyls each containing from 1 to 4 carbon atoms and being free from diazo groups and being of one structure and having one detectable characteristic and which is capable of undergoing a change in response to the application of imaging energy in the form of particle or wave radiation to produce at the latent image a material of different structure having another detectable characteristic.