In this paper, Dr Paul Dunn and Ian Lancaster will explain their approach to the fourth edition of Optical Document Security, as they attempt to follow in the large footsteps of Rudolf van Renesse. 

There have been three editions of Optical Document Security, published by Artech House in 1993, 1998 and 2005 (ISBN 1-58053-258-6). Van Renesse edited the first two but wrote the third, the text book for producers and users of optical security features for documents; indeed, it became required reading for anyone entering the field, especially on the producer side. 

Almost two decades later there is a need for an updated edition; after all, the second edition was published five years after the first, and it was followed seven years later by the third edition, a rapid succession of editions that reflected the rate of development of optical security features and their use. The field continues to develop, but Ruud died in 2011… . Yet there is a perceived need for another edition, and Artech House has commissioned Dr Paul Dunn, Ian Lancaster and Tony Poole to write this fourth edition. Paul is our key scientific and technical writer, Ian is writing the history and context, with Tony filling in on the practical use of optical security devices on documents. 

Our approach, inevitably, is somewhat different to Ruud’s. 20 years on there is a new generation working in the field, so we include chapters on the history and success of optical security devices, as well as providing context and perspective. We’ll also be covering design and production and the future of optical security. 

The core of the book, however, will be the technical and scientific explanations of optical security features. We are including wholly new coverage of the role of smartphones in examining these features – incredibly, the first iPhone was launched in 2007, two years after ODS 3 was published – while optical feature developments that are new or which have become established since ODS 3 include plasmonics, microlens arrays and window features. All will be covered in the new edition, which is due for publication in 2026.