Pulsar™ Threads – a Dynamic Response to the Threat of Counterfeiting

In the February issue of Currency News, we covered the acquisition by Oberthur Fiduciare (OF) of two thirds of the shares of the Swedish micro-optics firm RollingOptics, signalling its intention to focus on the growing area of micro-optics for security features.

But even before this acquisition, OF had launched Pulsar™. It describes this as a new generation of micro-optic thread technology that combines colour (fixed or shifting) and dynamic movement, using the latest micro-optical techniques to create a unique, personalized, secure and high impact security thread which is ideally suited to protect banknotes against the latest counterfeit threats.

The inspiration behind the design of Pulsar is nature, a regular source of ideas for scientific innovation. In this case, says OF, some of the many wonders of nature such as sand dunes, canyons and light reflecting on the rippled surface of water were the motivation for the creation of the Pulsar security thread.