Security labeling and optical information encryption enabled by laser-printed silicon Mie resonators

Fighting against the falsification of valuable items remains a crucial social-threatening challenge stimulating a never-ending search for novel anti-counterfeiting strategies. The demanding security labels must simultaneously address multiple requirements (high density of the recorded information, high protection degree, etc.) and be realized via scalable and inexpensive technologies. Here, the direct reproducible femtosecond-laser patterning of thin glass-supported amorphous (α-)Si films is proposed for optical information encryption and the scalable and highly reproducible fabrication of security labels composed of Raman-active hemispherical Si nanoparticles (NPs). Laser printing conditions allow the precise control of the diameter of the formed NPs ensuring translation of their dipolar Mie resonance position within the entire visible spectral range. Two-temperature molecular dynamics simulations clarify the origin of α-Si NP formation by rupture of the molten Si layer driven by a negative GPa-range pressure near the liquid-solid interface. Arrangement of the laser-printed Mie-resonant NP allows the creation of hidden security labels offering several easy-to-realize information encryption strategies (for example, local laser-induced post-crystallization or mixing Mie-resonant and non-resonant NPs), additional protection modalities, facile Raman mapping readout and dense information recording (up to 60 000 dots per inch) close to the optical diffraction limit. The developed fabrication strategy is simple, inexpensive, and scalable and can be realized based on cheap Earth-abundant materials and commercially-available equipment justifying its practical applicability and attractiveness for anti-counterfeit and security applications.