FLIM Fluorescence Lifetime Imaging

A novel optical sensor system for anti-counterfeiting has been developed based on Fluorescence Lifetime Imaging (FLIM). The system consists of a FLIM reader (developed by CSEM) and of lifetime-encoded security tags (developed by our partner U-NICA) and can be used to verify the authenticity of luxury goods, pharmaceuticals and fast-moving consumables. In addition to forgery prevention, the FLIM reader finds applications also in the medical and biotech domain, for example for oxygen detection or wound monitoring.

Counterfeiting application

To promote a wide-spread application of FLIM outside of academic and research laboratories, a demonstrator incorporating all the necessary hardware components in a single, compact and cost-effective setup was developed within a Nano-Tera project.

In cooperation with our industrial partner U-NICA, a dedicated prototype for anti-counterfeiting applications and dedicated FLIM tags were developed. The system has proved already to be a very promising method to label sensitive products and documents, considerably increasing the level of protection compared to conventional fluorescent inks.

"By measuring fluorescence lifetime, U-NICA is able to offer its customers an additional verification parameter, which is unique for each fluorescent dye. This leads to a much higher security and opens new possibilities for unique customer codes," said Jonas Reinhardt, Director of U-NICA Micronics AG.

Fluorescence Lifetime Imaging (FLIM) made easy
SecureFLIM—Fluorescence Lifetime Imaging for Product and Brand protection