Holograms: Eye-Catching, Distinctive and Secure

At the latest count a third of all banknotes contain a diffractive feature, in the form of a patch, stripe or thread, 327 to be precise. According to Frank van der Horst of the DNB in his presentation at last month's Holography Conference, the feature is the second best in public recognition terms after watermarks – which makes one wonder why the other two thirds of banknotes don’t use one!

Another speaker at the conference was Alan Newman of De La Rue, who reflected in his presentation on the importance of a layered approach throughout a banknote design, and the important role that holograms play in the banknote security features mix.

The scientific definition of a hologram is the recording of an interference pattern between two coherent beams of light, one of which has been reflected or transmitted from an object. This definition is a ‘classical’ hologram.