J. Eur. Opt. Society-Rapid Publ. 2025, 21, 36 Ó The Author( s), published by EDP Sciences, 2025 https:// doi. org / 10.1051 / jeos / 2025025 Available online at: https:// jeos. edpsciences. org
Journal of the European Optical Society-Rapid Publications
RESEARCH PAPER
Image quality metrics for restricted gamut images produced by laser-induced printing on plasmonic films
Robin Mermillod-Blondin 1, 2, Nicolas Dalloz 2, Alain Tremeau 1 |
, Aldi Wista Fadhilah 1, Rémi Emonet 1, 3, 4 |
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and Nathalie Destouches 1, 3,* |
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1 Université Jean Monnet Saint-Etienne, CNRS, Institut d’ Optique Graduate School, Laboratoire Hubert Curien UMR 5516, 42023 Saint-Etienne, France 2 TOPPAN Security SAS, 33 rue de Verdun, 92150 Suresnes, France 3 Institut Universitaire de France( IUF), Ministère de l’ Enseignement Supérieur et de la Recherche, 1 rue Descartes, 75005 Paris, France 4 Inria, Domaine de Voluceau, 78150 Le Chesnay-Rocquencourt, France
Received 20 March 2025 / Accepted 19 May 2025
Abstract. Laser-induced printing is a low-cost, high-speed, non-contact method of marking large, highresolution images. Implemented on thin films containing metallic nanoparticles, the technique allows for the printing of color images with visual effects. However, these images typically have a limited color gamut compared to inkjet printing. This limitation is due to the inability to achieve high levels of saturation for all colors and to cover the sRGB hue range. While common quality metrics focus primarily on aspects such as resolution or blur, they rarely address the color aspect. This study proposes a methodology to provide image quality metrics adapted to color gamuts with unusual shapes and volumes. It aims to rank them in terms of image quality performance for any given image. In particular, this work focuses on gamuts measured in transmission and reflection that are not necessarily centered on the CIE a * b * plane and may exhibit low contrast. Psychophysical studies have been conducted to evaluate the quality of images simulated with different color gamuts. The same images were evaluated using different metrics, and an analysis based on the ANOVA model was used to determine a set of metrics that explain observers’ preferences.
Keywords: Image, Quality, Metrics, Laser Processing, Psychophysical, ANOVA.
Abbreviations
AIC AICc
IQA IQM MSE PSNR SSIM VIF
1 Introduction
Akaike Information Criterion a version of AIC, that has a correction for small sample size Image Quality Assessment Image Quality Metrics Mean Squared Error Peak Signal to Noise Ratio Structure Similarity Index Measure Variance Inflation Factor
Recently, laser-induced colors on semi-transparent random plasmonic metasurfaces have enabled the first printing of multiplexed images observable to the naked eye under unpolarized white light [ 1 ]. These colors have the peculiarity of being independently controlled in different modes of observation. Indeed, two laser-processed areas can have the same color in one observation mode and different colors in another, while a single random plasmonic metasurface, i. e. a thin layer containing metallic nanoparticles that strongly interact with light, generates the colors. Thanks to this property, a multiplexed image can be encoded by laser processing in a single plasmonic metasurface and reveal different images in different observation modes. The versatility, speed and tamper-resistance of laser-induced image multiplexing make it an ideal laser-based technique for high-security documents personalization. However, the color gamut achievable with this method – and with laser printing method in general – is limited. For instance, in the work of Jiao Geng et al.( 2022) [ 2 ], ultrafast laser processing was shown to produce structural colors with high resolution and durability, but the achievable color gamut remains
* Corresponding author: nathalie. destouches @ univ-st-etienne. fr
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License( https:// creativecommons. org / licenses / by / 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.