Method and apparatus for generating color images in a transparent medium
US6566626B2 · kind B2 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Jul 3, 2001 |
| Grant date | May 20, 2003 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Jul 12, 2021 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC C)Chemistry; Metallurgy
- CPC primaryC03C23/007
- WIPO fieldMaterials, metallurgy
- WIPO sectorChemistry
Abstract
A method and apparatus for generating colored images of at least one color within a light-sensitive glass sample. The glass sample contains light-sensitive chemical components that acquire at least one of a multiplicity of colors in response to actinic radiation and subsequent heating to a temperature that causes color to appear. The method comprises focusing a pulsed laser beam to a target location within the glass, irradiating a plurality of pulses focused in the target location within the glass sample, thus generating a zone of increased opacity to the visible light at the target location and a resultant localized actinic radiation at that zone, displacing the focus point of the laser beam and the glass sample relative to each other by the displacing device in a predetermined manner so as to produce a plurality of zones of increased opacity that form an image, and heating of the sample to a temperature that causes color to appear at the zones of increased opacity.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.