PURPOSE: To form an image enhanced in gradation, reproducibility, and a signal/ noise ratio by allowing a vinyl monomer and/or a prepolymer in a photosensitive layer to be polymerized by imagewise exposing the photosensitive layer and heating it in contact with a developing layer or a barrier layer neighboring to the developing layer.
CONSTITUTION: A photosensitive layer contains a polymerizable vinyl monomer and/or such a prepolymer, a photopolymerization initiator, and a color forming agent capable of producing a dye (bleachable with said monomer and/or prepolymer) by the action of a color developing agent, and a developing layer contains said a color developing agent. The photosensitive layer is imagewise exposed to polymerized said vinyl monomer and/or prepolymer. Then, the photosensitive layer is heated in contact with the developing layer or a barrier layer adjacent to the developing layer, and the dye developed with the developing agent is bleached with the nonpolymerized vinyl monomer and/or prepolymer remaining in the nonexposed or poorly exposed parts, and a dye image is formed on the exposed parts.
YAMADA KOUZABUROU
OBAYASHI KEIJI
