September 15, 1998 / Vol. 23, No.

18 / OPTICS LETTERS 1483

Binary computer-generated holograms for security

applications from a synthetic
double-exposure method by electron-beam lithography

Nobukazu Yoshikawa, Masahide Itoh, and Toyohiko Yatagai

Tsukuba Advanced Research Alliance, Institute of Applied Physics, University of Tsukuba, Tennoudai 1-1-1, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan

Received April 29, 1998

We have developed a new multiplexing method for producing binary computer-generated holograms (CGH’s) for
security applications. This method is based on double recording of two types of coding method upon binary
CGH’s. The CGH synthesized by the proposed method can have multiple image planes from the region close
to the hologram (image region) to inf inity (Fraunhofer region) without severe degradation of reconstructed
images in the image region. A CGH containing simultaneous image- and Fourier-type holograms is fabricated
by electron-beam lithography. Some experimental results are presented.  1998 Optical Society of America
OCIS codes: 090.1760, 090.1970, 090.2890, 090.4220.

Holograms are attractive optical components for se- of each sampling point is coded as the area and the
curity and authentication applications because they position of an aperture within the cell. This conf igu-
are diff icult to counterfeit.1 Electron-beam lithog- ration causes the detour phase effect. In general,
raphy techniques are now being used to fabricate a Fourier-type CGH is synthesized. The wave-front
diffractive optical elements and computer-generated calculation cost is relatively small when a fast-Fourier-
holograms (CGH’s) for security and authentication ap- transform algorithm is used. The total area of the
plications.2 These optical elements have important hologram cannot be used in this method.
advantages: There is a high degree of freedom of de- In the point-oriented method, on the other hand, a
sign, and complicated nonexistent images can be recon- sampling point is represented by a single aperture.
structed with high diffraction efficiency. Therefore, Thus one uses the entire hologram plane to represent
further anticounterfeiting devices can be constructed the complex amplitude of sampling points. The num-
by the technique of digital holography and optical in- ber of sampling points to satisfy the sampling theo-
formation processing. rem is relatively large. Therefore the calculations are
We are particularly interested in a CGH designed burdensome. This method is generally implemented
to have multiple image planes from the image region in image- and Fresnel-type CGH’s as well as in the
close to the hologram to the Fraunhofer region, as Fourier-type CGH.
shown in Fig. 1. We believe that an image-type We postulate that a CGH consists of a CGH coded
hologram should be used for simple authentication by a point-oriented hologram (P-CGH) drawn in the
with a white-light source and that Fresnel- and unusable area of a CGH coded by a cell-oriented
Fourier-type holograms should be used for anticoun- hologram (C-CGH). The CGH can reconstruct images
terfeiting devices such as complex authentication and corresponding to those of the P-CGH and the C-CGH
cryptograms with a coherent monochromatic light because of the redundancy of the hologram4,5 when
source. Although wave-front superposition in diffrac- the appropriate design rule is applied. This conf igu-
tion calculations is an easy method for making ration can be interpreted as incoherent multiplexing,
multiple-image planes, the quality of the reconstructed which is similar to the optical double-exposure method.
image may decrease with an increasing amount of Therefore we call this new method the synthetic double-
multiplexing. Because image-type holograms should exposure (SDE) method. A slight degradation of the
be able to maintain their image quality for simple
authentication, the amount of multiplexing is limited.
In this study we developed a novel multiplexing
method for a binary CGH to make multiple image
planes without severely degrading the reconstructed
image in the image region. The proposed method
is based on the double recording to two types of
binary CGH coding method: cell oriented and point
oriented.3
Let us now consider the features of the two types
of binary CGH coding method. In the cell-oriented Fig. 1. CGH’s designed to have multiple image planes
method the hologram is divided into as many cells from the image region close to holograms to the Fraunhofer
as there are sampling points. The complex amplitude region.

0146-9592/98/181483-03$15.00/0  1998 Optical Society of America

1484 OPTICS LETTERS / Vol. 23, No. 18 / September 15, 1998

P-CGH can be caused by the C-CGH; however, if holo- The total size of the hologram was approximately
gram multiplexing is performed in the C-CGH only, 2.5 mm 3 2.5 mm.
the CGH can include multiple image planes with- The CGH was fabricated by the overwrite grating
out severe degradation of the reconstructed image of conf iguration with an electron-beam lithography
the P-CGH. system (Erionics ELS3300-PWS-L). The electron-
In our experiment we fabricated the CGH by direct beam resist was a positive electron-resist material,
writing of the electron-beam resist in electron-beam poly(methyl methacrylate) (OEBR-1000, Tokyo Ohka
lithography.6 – 8 The SDE fabrication process is as Kogyo Company, Ltd.), whose refractive index is 1.49.
follows: First, the C-CGH is drawn upon a substrate The depth of the resist was ,0.3 nm. The electron
with an electron-beam resist. Next, the P-CGH is dose in the exposure process was set to 74 mCycm2 in
drawn upon the same substrate. Thus the P-CGH is the first operation and to 62 mCycm2 in the second
written over the C-CGH. The electron dose in the operation for 20 kV of acceleration voltage. These
second drawing process should be less than that in the parameters were determined in preliminary experi-
first drawing process to avoid erasing the first CGH; ments. After exposure, the element was developed in
this procedure is similar to the optical double-exposure the developer and rinsed in isopropyl alcohol.
method. The drawing can be made in reverse order. Figure 3 shows the surface of the CGH. Some rect-
Then the development process is performed. The angles are the sampling points of the C-CGH. Some
SDE can also be executed in a single operation with longitudinal lines are the sampling points of the
sophisticated computer-aided design software. Nev- P-CGH. In our experiment the C-CGH occupied only
ertheless, the double-exposure operation has some ad- 14% of the entire hologram area, and the sampling
vantages, such as implementation of the independent points of the P-CGH were not covered completely by
design rule and the use of the rotation and the shift by those of the C-CGH. Therefore the information of the
the stage translation of the electron-beam lithography P-CGH was suff iciently preserved.
system. Figure 4(a) shows the reconstructed image of the
We consider three conf igurations of the SDE, as P-CGH obtained with a white-light source focused
shown in Fig. 2: the overwrite grating, the dual on the letter A. The diffraction eff iciency of the
overwrite grating, and the over–underwrite grating. P-CGH is not the main concern because measure-
Here the upper layer is electron-beam resist, the ment of the diffraction efficiency is diff icult in an
lower layer is a glass substrate, the central depressed image-type CGH and the image quality is more im-
area represents an aperture of the C-CGH, and the portant than the diffraction efficiency in security
small depressed areas represent apertures of the applications. Figure 4(b) shows the reconstructed im-
P-CGH. We consider the overwrite conf iguration age of the C-CGH. The diffraction eff iciency of the
here, as it is the easiest to fabricate. The replication first-order image of the C-CGH was ,1% in our ex-
process may be required for mass production. periment. However, the diffraction eff iciency of the
We synthesized a CGH that had two image planes,
one in the image region and one the Fraunhofer region,
that is, we multiplexed both image- and Fourier-type
holograms. We adapted the Lohmann method to syn-
thesize the C-CGH.3 The number of sampling points
was 256 3 256, and the sampling pitch in the holo-
gram plane was 9.75 mm 3 9.75 mm. The object was
def ined as the numbers 1 2 3 with a constant intensity. Fig. 2. Three configurations of the SDE: (a) the over-
The complex amplitude of the object was calculated write grating, ( b) the dual overwrite grating, (c) the over –
underwrite grating.
by the fast-Fourier-transform algorithm. The P-CGH
was considered an image-type CGH represented by the
interference fringe between the object and the refer-
ence wave front as optical holography.9,10 The number
of sampling points was 8192 3 64, and the sampling
pitch in the hologram plane was 0.3 mm 3 39.0 mm,
where the maximum diffraction angle of the object
wave front and the incident angle of the reference wave
front were both 30± and vertical parallax was neglected
to reduce the amount of calculations. The sampling
pitch of the P-CGH, which depends on the electron-
beam lithography system, was different from that of
the C-CGH, so hologram patterns could not interfere
with each other. The objects were the letters A B,
where A and B were considered a set of point light
sources located 2 and 3 mm away from the hologram,
respectively. Here the image volume can be formed
near the hologram because it is an image-type holo-
gram. The light source in the diffraction calculations Fig. 3. Surface of the CGH fabricated by electron-beam
was assumed to be a He–Ne laser sl ­ 632.8 nmd. lithography.
 September 15, 1998 / Vol. 23, No. 18 / OPTICS LETTERS 1485

easily remove this noise by shifting the position of the

reconstructed image or rotating the coordinate system
of the P-CGH 45± with respect to that of C-CGH.
In conclusion, we have developed SDE of binary
CGH’s for security applications. The CGH, includ-
ing both image- and Fourier-type holograms, was fab-
ricated by direct writing of an electron-beam resist
in electron-beam lithography. The reconstructed im-
ages in the image and the Fraunhofer regions were
almost identical to the desired ones. The image-type
hologram can be used for simple authentication with
a white-light source, and the Fourier-type holograms
can be used with a coherent light source for anticoun-
terfeiting applications. Additional applications of the
SDE will include free-space optical interconnections
among individual processing units at different places
and depths in a complex optical system.
This research is supported by the Tsukuba Advanced
Research Alliance.

References
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C-CGH. Holland, Amsterdam, 1978).
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578 (1982).
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