Company Creates Luminescent Paper

Jan. 6 -- When is a photo not worth a thousand words? When it's in a dark room and can't be seen.

But a small paper-producer has now developed a way to make photos and other printed material really stand out — by making it literally shine through the gloom.

Brightec in Wellesey, Mass., is claiming to have developed the first economical luminescent, or "glow-in-the-dark," photographic paper.

Patrick Planche, president and CEO of Brightec, says the paper looks and handles just like ordinary photographic paper of the kind home computer owners use to print out high-quality digital images on their home inkjet printers.

But hidden in the Brightec paper is an invisible layer of luminescent chemicals — material that absorbs energy from light sources and later releases it as a subdued glow when left in the dark.

Planche says the luminescent properties of the paper are enhanced by several proprietary — and patented — processes.

First, the choice of which luminous materials to use is carefully controlled. The trick, says Planche, is to choose phosphorescent pigments that don't produce the traditional harsh green or neon yellow common in most glow-in-the-dark products.

To be fair, Planche acknowledges the paper produces a cool turquoise glimmer rather than the "pure white" light one would expect from a regular light bulb. But Planche says the embedded chemicals don't affect the color of images seen in normal daylight or white light sources.

What's more, Brightec also layers a translucent optical filter that helps "desaturate the colors" of whatever is printed on the paper's surface.

"You can print a bride's wedding dress and it will come out white," says Planche. "On regular glow-in-the-dark paper, it would look yellow."

The filter also defuses the illumination of the chemicals so the glow-in-the-dark effect is consistent across the paper's surface.

As a result, Brightec's paper produces images that look normal under bright light. But once the lights go out, the paper gives off a glow bright enough to show off the image in full detail with very little color distortion. And just five minutes or so of exposure to bright light will "charge" the paper to glow an entire night.