Patterned reflective optical structures

Abstract

An optical structure includes a light transmissive substrate having a surface relief pattern applied thereon, such as a hologram. A patterned layer of a reflective material is applied over portions of the surface relief pattern so as to form alphanumeric characters, bars codes, or pictorial or graphical designs. An optically active coating is applied over the patterned layer of reflective material and exposed portions of the surface relief pattern in order to provide desirable optical effects to the exposed portions of the surface relief pattern. In some embodiments, the optically active coating is a color shifting thin film, or contains color shifting flakes. Optionally, the material of the optically active coating is index matched to the light transmissive substrate in order to optically erase the effect of the surface relief pattern in the portions of the surface relief pattern not covered by the reflective material.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.