Abstract
High definition full color hardcopy with both high resolution and continuous tone can be obtained by laser dye thermal transfer printing. In this report, a mechanistic study on the dye transfer process during laser heating is conducted and extended to understanding of the continuous tone control feature. The thermal response of an ink layer obtained by time-resolved optical microscopy is explained in terms of the distribution of the energy density which takes into account the diffusion and loss of heat energy occurred in microseconds. On the basis of transient deformation of the ink layer, a simple model to predict the continuous tone characteristics is introduced. The amount of transferred dye calculated based on the model is in satisfactory agreement with that determined experimentally.
