A group of researchers from Tokyo-based Dai Nippon Printing (DNP) and the University of Tokyo has developed a new technology [JP] that makes it harder for criminals to counterfeit paper money or other valuables made of paper, i.e. coupons or vouchers. It can also be used to make credit cards more secure, too.
The new system is based on the holograms found on most of these papers. Special codes that are just 50 nanometers large are being imprinted into those holograms, and the researchers claim the codes are next to impossible to forge. They can only be read by near-field light reading machines that aren’t available to the general public.
Dai Nippon Printing is still working on optimizing the technology and plans to be able to sell it to financial or governmental institutions by 2014.