Fuji Photo Film Company, Limited

Yonosuke Takahashi

Minoru Wada

Eiichi Hasegawa

Fumiaki Shinozaki

Hideyuki Nakamura

Satoshi Yoshida

Tomoaki Ikeda

Yasuo Nishikawa

Hiromichi Tachikawa

Masatoshi Tabei

Shinichi Yoshinari

Toshiharu Tanaka

Masao Yabe

Mikio Totsuka

Kouya Kawabata

Naoya Imamura

Masamiti Sigyo

The present invention provides a thermal transfer sheet comprising a substrate, and a light-to-heat conversion layer containing a substance capable of converting light to heat and a binder, and an image forming layer, which are disposed on the substrate, wherein the binder in the light-to-heat conversion layer is a polyimide resin soluble in an organic solvent. In the thermal transfer sheet provided by the present invention, the light-to-heat conversion layer is not affected by the coating liquid disposed as a layer on the light-to-heat conversion layer. Further, the light-to-heat conversion layer thus formed exhibits high heat resistance and humidity resistance. Accordingly, the thermal transfer sheet of the present invention produces good images with little or no fogging.

Thermal transfer sheet

A heat sensitive ink sheet has a heat sensitive ink layer which is formed of a heat sensitive ink material comprising colored pigment and thermoplastic resin such as amorphous organic polymer. An image receiving sheet having a support sheet and an image receiving layer thereon, the support sheet of the image receiving sheet being a porous sheet made of plastics which have fine pores therein. An image forming method is conducted by using the heat sensitive ink sheet and an image receiving sheet by area gradation by the use of a thermal head or laser beam.

Image forming method

A method for thermal transfer recording of a multicolor image which utilizes a heat sensitive ink sheet having a support sheet and a transparent heat sensitive ink layer having a thickness of 0.2 to 1.0 .mu.m which is formed of a heat sensitive ink material comprising 30 to 70 weight parts of a colored pigment at least 70 weight % of which has a particle size of not more than 1.0 .mu.m and 25 to 60 weight parts of amorphous organic polymer having a softening point of 40.degree. to 150.degree. C.

Method for thermal transfer recording of multicolor image

Disclosed is a thermal-transfer recording process employing a transfer material and a image-receiving sheet. The transfer material comprises a support film and an image forming layer containing a coloring material and an organic polymer, and the image-receiving sheet comprises a substrate and a photopolymerizable or photosensitive thermal-adhesive layer. The process comprises placing the transfer material on the image-receiving sheet to form a composite; imagewise heating the surface of the support film of the composite using a thermal head; separating the transfer material from the image-receiving sheet leaving the image forming layer in the heated area on the photopolymerizable or photosensitive thermal-adhesive layer to form a colored replica image on the image-receiving layer; and either exposing the whole surface of the photopolymerizable thermal-adhesive layer to radiation to cure the photopolymerizable thermal-adhesive layer; or exposing the whole surface of the photosensitive thermal-adhesive layer and the image forming layer to UV-rays and treating the exposed layer with a developing solution to remove the exposed layer in the area having no colored replica image thereon.

Thermal-transfer recording process

An image forming method comprises the steps of applying a laser light imagewise and sequentially onto a laminate for image formation and separating the image receiving sheet from other materials of the laminate so as to keep on the image receiving sheet an imagewise transferred image formation layer comprising the thermoplastic resin and pigment. The laminate for image formation comprises, an image transfer sheet comprising, in order, a support sheet, a light-heat conversion layer containing a light-heat conversion material which absorbs a laser light and instantly produces a heat, a heat sensitive releasing layer containing a material which produces a gas upon receiving the heat produced in the light-heat conversion layer, and an image formation layer which comprises a thermoplastic resin and a pigment, and an image receiving sheet via a thermally fusible material in the form of a large number of dots or in the form of lines to divide an interface between the image formation layer and the image receiving sheet into different areas. The material of the heat sensitive releasing layer can be incorporated into the light-heat conversion layer.

Image transfer sheet, its laminate and image forming method

Disclosed is an image forming process employing a light-sensitive image forming material. The image forming material comprises a support, a light-heat conversion layer and an image forming layer, superposed in order. The process comprises the steps of imagewise exposing the image forming material to light so as to increase a bonding strength between the light-heat conversion layer and the image forming layer in the exposed area, pressing a receiving sheet on the light-heat conversion layer, and removing the receiving sheet from the image forming material to form a negative image on the receiving sheet in the unexposed area and to leave a positive image on the light-heat conversion layer in the exposed area. Otherwise, the process comprises the steps of imagewise exposing the image forming material to light so as to decrease a bonding strength between the conversion layer and the image forming layer in the exposed area, pressing a receiving sheet on the conversion layer, and removing the receiving sheet from the image forming material to form a positive image on the receiving sheet in the exposed area and to leave a negative image on the conversion layer in the unexposed area.

Image forming process and light-sensitive image forming material

An optical recording medium comprising a substrate and a recording layer made of metal and/or semi-metal and on which data can be recorded with a laser beam, wherein a plasma polymerization layer is formed on at least an upper surface of said recording layer.

Optical recording medium

An optical information recording medium of two disc substrates, which are adhered directly or through a convex portion formed on at least one of the substrates or a spacer provided between the substrates by an adhesive layer, and a recording layer which is capable of recording and/or reading information by laser beam and which is provided on a surface of at least one of the substrates facing the other substrate, wherein the adhesive layer is formed by an ultraviolet-curing epoxy adhesive composition comprising a light-initiator which produces a cationic polymerization initiator upon irradiation with ultraviolet rays and an epoxy compound having two or more epoxy groups per molecule.

Optical information recording medium

A light information recording medium useful for light disc memories is described, comprising a support and a recording layer formed thereon containing a mixture of a metal with at least one of Ga.sub.2 S.sub.3 and MoO.sub.3.

Light information recording medium

A negative-working image forming process which comprises uniformly exposing a photosensitive material comprising a support having thereon a sensitive layer comprising (i) an o-quinonediazide compound and (ii) a second compound, to actinic radiation which is able to convert the o-quinonediazide compound to the corresponding indenecarboxylic acid compound, and subsequent to said uniformly exposing imagewise exposing said exposed photosensitive material to a laser beam to thereby render the indenecarboxylic acid compound of the imagewise exposed areas convert to the corresponding indene compound and developing with an alkaline developing solution to dissolve out the unexposed area to the laser beam, wherein said second compound reduces the rate of dissolution of the laser exposed areas in the developing solution by converting the indenecarboxylic acid to the corresponding indene compound, whereby said image results.

Negative image forming process in o-quinone diazide layer utilizing

Methods for copying optical information are disclosed. The methods comprise the steps of disposing a master mask with a tracking signal or other information recorded therein over an optical memory material comprised of heat mode recording material which can be thermally altered in order to deform or remove the material upon the application of an energy beam, permitting recording on the altered recording material and irradiating the master disk with flash light for a period of 1 microsecond or less, or in the alternative, scanning with a laser beam focused to a spot having a diameter of at least 10 .mu.m on the master mask with the exposure time at each area of the optical memory material being preferably 1 microsecond or less.

Method for copying optical information

In a method for recording information by irradiating an optical information recording material comprising a heat mode recording layer comprising a metal on a base with a light beam, the method for recording optical information in which said heat mode recording layer consists of a metal and at least one metal compound selected from metal oxides and metal sulfides and the proportion of the amount of the metal to that of said metal compound increases or decreases in the direction of the thickness of the layer, said recording layer having a layer comprising of mixture of at least one of the metal and at least one of the metal compound, in which irradiation with the light beam is conducted from the side where the proportion of the metal in the recording layer is smaller, and in which melting and removing are conducted until the difference in reflectance of the light between the non-recorded area and the recorded area reaches an extent which permits reading by light. The method permits highly sensitive recording by a light beam of a lower energy and can afford a record of information suitable for reflex reading.

Method for recording light information

An optical information recording material which comprises a substrate having thereon a heat mode recording layer made of a metal and a metal compound that increases the sensitivity of said recording layer and decreases the reflectivity of said recording layer, a reflecting layer made of a metal, and a heat insulating layer interposed between said recording layer and said reflecting layer. The material makes it possible to record information at high sensitivity and read recorded information by reflected light at high contrast.

Optical information recording material

A light information recording medium is disclosed. The medium is comprised of a support which has transparency with respect to light. The support has coated thereon a light sensitive recording layer which contains SiO.sub.2 and In at the SiO.sub.2 content of 10 to 35 vol. % based on the total volume of SiO.sub.2 and In. The recording medium can be used for the recording and reading of the information recorded thereon by striking the medium with laser light from the support side. The recording medium can be used as an optical disk memory having excellent recording sensitivity with respect to laser light, long preservability and high resolving power as well and high S/N ratio.

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Shizuoka, Japan

Yonosuke Takahashi