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Summary:
A totally new and revolutionary imaging system which produces high quality and dry output has been constructed to satisfy the most demanding requirements of imagesetting. A new digital (binary) film has been invented that is exposed by laser energy. The essence of the new digital film is a dry laser controlled pigment transfer. Typically, the imaging portion of the film consists of two layers coated consecutively on a polyester base. The first layer is a thin uniform laser-energy sensitive material, on top of which is an imaging layer consisting of carbon particles embedded in a polymeric matrix. Imaging occurs when a laser beam of appropriate energy, higher than the film threshold, is focused at the interface between the energy sensitive layer and the imaging layer. The absorbed laser energy causes a transformation at the interface between the imaging layer and energy sensitive layer leading to a strong adhesion between the two layers. The exposed dot is revealed, or is physically developed by a precise and controlled peeling process. Dots of very sharp edges are revealed. The film is capable of forming very well-defined dots, as small as 5 ?m in diameter, when exposed adiabatically to laser energy higher than the threshold value. These dots have visible optical density Dmax in excess of 4.0 and higher than 5.0 Dmax in UV