Optical element and information recording medium for counterfeit prevention

Abstract

There is provided an optical element for counterfeit prevention that has both high counterfeit preventing property and designability by a multi-optical element structure. The optical element has a second layer () having a relief structure on a front surface, a first layer () disposed on the second layer (), and a third layer () in a thin film interposed between the second layer () and the first layer () and formed along a front surface of the relief structure. The second layer () has a refractive index lower than a refractive index of the first layer () and the third layer () has a refractive index higher than the refractive index of the first layer (). The optical element has at least a first region () and a second region () in a plan view. In the first region (), an electromagnetic wave that enters from a side of the first layer () in a specific angle range is configured to be totally reflected. In the second region (), a relief structure that causes at least one of diffraction, interference, scattering, refraction, and absorption of an electromagnetic wave is disposed and the electromagnetic wave entering from the first layer () side is configured to be reflected by a refractive index difference between the first layer () and the third layer ().