SKIRMISHER

You can print on Xerox’s new invention, called Erasable Paper, and the printed images last for only a day then disappear, which makes the paper to be reused over and over, unless, of course, you’ve somehow used it in the doing of unspeakable things.

The experimental printing technology came out of a collaboration between the Xerox Research Centre of Canada and the Palo Alto Research Center Inc. (PARC). According to an online release, the “aha” moment came for Xerox researchers when they developed compounds that change color when they absorb a certain wavelength of light but then will gradually disappear. As it stands now, the paper erases itself in a 16 to 24-hour range. The paper then can be reused.

Researchers at the Xerox Research Centre are working on the ink part of the equation, while scientists at PARC are working on building a machine that can print the image onto the special paper. They currently are developing a prototype printer, according to Xerox, that creates the image using a light bar that provides a special wavelength of light as the writing source.

“This will remain a research project for some time,” said Eric Shrader, PARC area manager of industrial inkjet systems, in a written statement. “Our experiments prove that it can be done, and that is the first step, but not the only one, to developing a system that is commercially viable.”

via INFORMATION WEEK

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