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Quick Response (QR) codes have become more and
more popular lately, something which began in the Japanese automotive
industry to track car parts, has now become a popular marketing tool.
However, researchers in the United States have discovered a new way to
utilize QR codes as a security tool. Invisible QR codes can be printed
on to all manner of different materials, such as paper and glass and
they are completely invisible to the human eye, only becoming visible by
using infrared light.
The
complexity of the QR code is such that they make a good anti-fraud
device because they are very difficult to replicate, so say researchers.
QR
codes became popular in the Far East and they are becoming more popular
in the Western hemisphere for the ease of which they can link people to
the mobile web. QR codes can hold much more information than a standard
old-fashioned horizontal line barcode, the ones that you will find on
packaging in shops and supermarkets. A QR code is a small box containing
black and white pixels which can be scanned using a smart phone and
which will redirect the user to a website.
Normal
visible QR codes are becoming a great advertising tool but the
invisible version is being touted as the next big thing in security and
anti-counterfeiting circles. The invisible QR code is still scanned in the same way as a visible one, but it can only be seen under infrared light.
The invisible QR codes are made from minute nanoparticles
fused with fluorescent green and blue inks. These particles then
attract photons on a wavelength that is not visible but release them on a
wavelength that is visible.
The
inventors of these invisible QR codes have stated that they believe
that they are robust enough to be used on banknotes. In tests the
researchers folded the paper that contained the invisible QR code over
fifty times and afterwards it was still readable, and the researchers
believe that they can be printed onto any solid object and its
complexity will make it difficult for counterfeiters to copy.
