Published in New Scientist, 11 Nov 2012
YOUR clothes may soon carry a helpful secret. A new type of thread woven into patterns invisible to the naked eye could put an end to fake designer clothes – and dull outfits.
Concealed patterns visible only under polarised light are used in some nations’ bank notes to deter counterfeiting. To extend the method to other valuables, Christian Müller at Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg, Sweden, made a semi-transparent thread from polyethylene and a polymer used in clothes dye. This thread has unique optical properties that allow only certain polarisations to pass through. […]
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