It’s been 10 years since LASINK™ was introduced into the ID and secure document market. In this technical feature celebrating the impact of the technology, IN Groupe takes a look at what LASINK™ has achieved in improving secure colour portraiture.
Some revolutions are ongoing, and LASINK™ sits firmly in that category.
When polycarbonate datapages and card bodies became widely adopted from the mid-2000s, the sector gained a decisive security advantage: personal data could be laser-engraved into the internal layers of the document rather than printed on the surface, raising the barrier to alteration and forgery.
But this shift came with a compromise.
As polycarbonate became the reference substrate for high-assurance credentials, colour portraiture largely disappeared, replaced by greyscale imagery.
‘Polycarbonate provided perfect data protection, but it required grayscale, however the market remained attached to colour photos,’ recalls Coralie Vandroux, an R&D Engineer who was involved from the earliest stages of LASINK™’s development.
The issue was not about simple aesthetics.
For issuing authorities and frontline inspection officers, the portrait is a primary anchor for rapid, intuitive verification. The colour in a portrait functions as a familiar reference point for the human examiner; it supports immediate face-to-document comparison and reduces the cognitive load that’s generated when interpreting tonal cues alone. Moving ‘back’ to blackand-white portraits, even to gain materiallevel protection, could be perceived as a regression in usability and confidence.
In practice, the sector was forced to choose between two imperfect options: a colour photo on the surface that carried mechanical vulnerability or a secure embedded laser portrait that sacrificed colour. As Benoît Berthe, VP of Product Development, puts it bluntly, ‘applying colour to the surface of an ID or travel document using inkjet printing would be heresy. It amounts to undoing the previous 20 years of progress in document security.’
LASINK™ emerged in the early 2010s as a response to this unsatisfactory tradeoff. The design objective was clear: to preserve the core security benefit of polycarbonate, allowing the data to be embedded within the document structure, while reintroducing a colour portrait that remained intrinsically protected by the construction. ‘We had to keep the data embedded within the document while bringing back colour. That’s where it all started,’ explains Amaury Chasseux, Product & Marketing Director.
The solution developed by IN Groupe is based on a matrix principle, a preprinted structure which is laminated and then selectively masked by a laser.
Instead of printing colour on the surface, LASINK™ integrates a printed matrix within the polycarbonate structure before personalisation.
During issuance, the holder’s colour portrait is transformed into a highresolution pattern using a confidential algorithm, and a laser then engraves through the thickness of the polycarbonate to reveal the intended colours within the embedded matrix.
The crucial point here is the architecture of the document: the colour is not added as an external layer, but ‘written’ into its body, protected by the surrounding laminated layers. Once laminated, the document becomes a single, indivisible unit, an approach deliberately aligned with the security logic of polycarbonate itself.
Benoît Berthe’s description makes the engineering intent clearer. A matrix containing all possible colours is printed at each pixel position of the future portrait zone. Then, for every pixel, the unwanted colours are masked with black, so that both the colour information and the black masking are embedded at the core of the document.
This is a fundamentally different security proposition to a surface colour image, even when the latter is protected by varnish or film, because a surface image remains a potential target for mechanical tampering.
By contrast, an image embedded within the polycarbonate cannot be altered without destroying the document’s integrity because the portrait is inseparable from the material structure that carries it.
An alternative approach, printing the portrait with inkjet before sealing the polycarbonate block, was considered but rejected for operational reasons. It would require manufacturing and personalisation to be co-located, creating ‘logistics that are far too cumbersome for nearly all clients,’ according to Benoît Berthe. LASINK™ was therefore shaped not only by security requirements, but also by the practical constraints of issuance ecosystems.
Because LASINK™ relies on a matrix architecture rather than conventional inkjet photo reproduction, it does not attempt to mimic the exact appearance of an inkjet portrait. The matrix introduces a specific visual signature, structured and recognisable, which becomes part of the authentication proposition. From that viewpoint, the value of LASINK™ is not colour alone, but a colour portrait whose security behaviour is engineered and repeatable.
Coralie Vandroux emphasises that ‘our strength goes beyond colour as such.
It lies more in the security and ease of document authentication,’ and Amaury Chasseux adds that the technology enables multi-level authentication as the portrait is inherently secure and can be verified at different levels of rigour.
In practical terms, the first filter is visual inspection by the naked eye (Level 1 authentication) supported by the portrait’s recognisable structure. Further checks can be added using specialist tools, allowing the same portrait element to participate in deeper inspection regimes when required.
This layered approach matters because portrait manipulation remains a highvalue target for counterfeiters and forgers and because contemporary attacks increasingly combine physical interference with credible visual imitation. The point of a tiered scheme is not to force every inspection to become forensic, but to ensure that the feature has depth when the situation demands it.
LASINK™ was conceived as an implementable solution rather than a laboratory curiosity, and its development has now culminated in Origin+, the latest evolution of the technology. Origin+ builds on the same core principle – embedding colour securely within the polycarbonate structure – but reflects a further step in industrial maturity, image quality, and longterm durability.
The adoption pathway reflects this trajectory. The technology’s first deployment was with Costa Rica’s national ID card, followed by programmes including Andorra and Burkina Faso.
Within a few years, LASINK™ moved beyond an experimental phase and into industrialisation, indicating that key process controls – image preparation, matrix printing, lamination and laser interaction – could be stabilised for production environments.
A central element of this industrial logic is the decision to innovate using proven technologies already established in secure document manufacture: laser engraving and secure inks. ‘We chose technologies that have been proven in the field. This contributes to sustainability,’ says Coralie Vandroux.
The approach lowers barriers to entry because it avoids dependence on novel materials or exotic process steps, and it is operationally pragmatic. LASINK™ – and now Origin+ – operates with a single laser, which supports integration into existing personalisation infrastructures without forcing major redesign of issuance lines.
Industrial compatibility also extends to issuance. The technology is positioned as compatible with both centralised and decentralised personalisation.
In a centralised model, personalisation is performed at a single high-security site compared with a decentralised model where operations are distributed across multiple sites, sometimes closer to issuance points such as regional offices or diplomatic missions. A colour portrait architecture that demands strict co-location of manufacturing and issuance constrains these models; LASINK™ and Origin+ are framed explicitly to avoid that constraint.
Over time, development has focused on resolution and process optimisation. The first generation used an 80-micron spacing between the lines of the colour matrix, producing a visibly structured texture. Later iterations reduced spacing, improving the fineness and sharpness of the matrix over time. ‘We gradually brought the lines closer together. At a normal viewing distance, they become almost imperceptible,’ explains Coralie Vandroux.
The intent is not visual spectacle, but tighter control over image quality through mastery of image preparation, matrix printing and the interaction between laser energy and the embedded inks within the polycarbonate.
This continuous improvement reinforces the central technical distinction that underpinned LASINK™ in the first place: surface images remain vulnerable, while embedded images become inseparable from the document’s architecture. As Amaury Chasseux summarises, ‘security consistency depends on integration into the material.’
On that basis, Origin+ should be seen not as a change of direction, but as a refinement of the same engineering premise: that colour should be integrated into the security structure rather than compete with it. It also addresses the practical realities of issuance, including long validity periods where resistance to UV ageing, abrasion and mechanical stress is not optional, but essential.
