PATTERNED REFLECTIVE OPTICAL MICRO-STRUCTURES

摘要

An optical structure (70) includes a light transmissive substrate (22) having a surface relief pattern (24) applied thereon, such as a hologram. A patterned layer of a reflective material (26) 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 (72) containing color shifting flakes (64) 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. 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 (24a) of the surface relief pattern not covered by the reflective material.