Your office printer could soon cut labels to size as well as printing them.
Researchers in France have shown that optical lasers emitting less than 1 watt can cut paper along lines printed with an ink that absorbs the laser light. Black ink makes cutting fastest, but the lines could also be written in an “invisible” ink that absorbs the laser’s infrared wavelength, reports Olivier Acher at CEA Le Ripault in Monts, France (Optics Express, vol 13, p 2351).
Potential uses include trimming paper, cutting cards and name badges and making custom-sized labels from sticky-backed paper. “My secretary simply…
