Patent ID: 6566626
Filing Date: 2003-05-20
Classification: B23K,B44B,C03C

Abstract:
A method for generating colored images of at least one color within a light-sensitive glass sample that 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 comprising:providing pulsed laser beam source having a radiation off the range of ultraviolet spectrum; providing a focusing device for focusing said pulsed laser beam at a predetermined focus point within the glass; providing a displacing device for providing relative predetermined displacement between the focus point and the glass sample; focusing the laser beam to a target location within the glass; irradiating a plurality of pulses of the pulsed laser beam focused in the target location within the glass sample so as to generate 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.