SNU Professor Sin-Doo Lee’s Team
Develops Optical Anti-Counterfeiting Label and Optical Information Storage Media

- Development of color QR codes that display different color images depending on the optical polarization of incident light
- Published as the Editor's selected research paper in the world-renowned journal "Optics Express"


▲ Sin-Doo Lee Professor SNU Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Dr. Inho Lee (Provided by SNU College of Engineering)

  

SNU College of Engineering (Dean Kookheon Char) announced that Professor Sin-Doo Lee and his team of SNU Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering developed a new optical anti-counterfeiting label and optical information storage media. Professor Sin-Doo Lee and his team used anisotropic resonator that incorporates a layer of liquid crystal molecules to be the world’s first to develop and identify the principle of anti-counterfeit labeling and medium for storage. The research results are meaningful in that they showed the potential to extend beyond a simplistic two-dimensional QR code to be a three-dimensional holographic technology that recognizes different optical information depending on the direction of polarizing light.
 
The conventional optical anti-counterfeit label and storage media fabrication had the limitation of being complicated and having to go through lengthy microfabrication procedures. Professor Shin-Doo Lee and his team’s optical information storage medium does not require microfabrication, so a large area can be produced at a low cost. Replication is also very difficult because light information is stored, extracted and recognized according to the arrangement of liquid crystal molecules and the polarization of light. In addition, color QR codes or color images can be stored as the colors change depending on the arrangement direction of molecules within the anisotropic resonator. The stored information can also be recognized by the naked eye, and extraction of selective information is possible depending on the polarization of the light.
 
"We will be able to provide high levels of security for not only CDs and high-capacity optical storage media that were already in existence but also for QR codes and RFID cards," commented Professor Shin-Doo Lee of SNU. "Because this technology can be used to produce multiple optical information storage media at even low costs, there is huge potential in the field of anti-counterfeiting and security" he added.
This research led by Professor Shin-Doo Lee of the College of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Dr. Inho Lee was conducted with the support of the SNU BK21 program. Professor Byoungho Lee of the College of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Professor Sang-Hyun Oh of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering in the University of Minnesota, U.S. collaboratively participated in the research. Professor Shin-Doo Lee’s research results were published online on August 19 as the Editor’s selected research paper in the world-renowned journal “Optics Express”.
(https://www.osapublishing.org/OE/abstract.cfm?uri=OE-27-17-24512).