VORRICHTUNG ZUR PRUEFUNG VON AUSWEISDOKUMENTEN ODER DERGLEICHEN

A document such as an ID-card is provided with check markings comprising a material based upon rare earth metals and having the property that when excited by IR radiation it emits visible light. When checking the document, the document is irradiated with pulsed IR radiation, the occurrence of corresponding visible light pulses originating from said material being detected. The visible light pulses have well defined rise and decay times dictated by the check material used, which fact is used to check that output pulses from the detector are the correct ones for indicating the genuiness of the document.