The physics of fingerprints and their detection

Thomas, Guy

doi:10.1088/0022-3735/11/8/002

Cited by 86 publications

(69 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…1 Human body possesses the following three types of glandsviz. eccrine, apocrine and sebaceous, the secretions of which contribute to a fingerprint deposit.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Physical developer method for detection of latent fingerprints: A review

Sodhi

Kaur

2016

Egyptian Journal of Forensic Sciences

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The physical developer technique is a means to detect fingerprints on dry and wet, porous items, including paper articles, clay-based products and adhesive tapes. The process involves an oxidation-reduction couple whereby a solution of an iron salt reduces aqueous silver nitrate to finely divided metallic silver. The technique derives its name from the photographic physical developer which, during processing of film rolls, undergoes a similar redox reaction. The physical developer reveals the fingerprints as dark gray or black images due to the adsorption of metallic silver particles on the fatty acid and lipid components of sweat residue. ª 2015 Hosting by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of The International Association of Law and Forensic Sciences (IALFS).

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“…1 Human body possesses the following three types of glandsviz. eccrine, apocrine and sebaceous, the secretions of which contribute to a fingerprint deposit.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Physical developer method for detection of latent fingerprints: A review

Sodhi

Kaur

2016

Egyptian Journal of Forensic Sciences

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“…Figure 3A shows that the fingerprint does not completely mask the ink and in fact it is still possible to see some ink ions from beneath the fingerprint. This is to be expected since fingerprint ridges can be seen to be made up of a series of droplets when viewed under an optical microscope and so will not uniformly cover the ink 20 . Conversely, Figure 3B shows that when the ink line is deposited after the fingerprint, there are also variations in the intensity of the ink line.…”

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confidence: 99%

Determination of the Deposition Order of Overlapping Latent Fingerprints and Inks Using Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry

et al. 2012

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A new protocol using time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (ToF-SIMS) has been developed to identify the deposition order of a fingerprint overlapping an ink line on paper. By taking line scans of fragment ions characteristic of the ink molecules (m/z 358.2 and 372.2) where the fingerprint and ink overlap and by calculating the normalised standard deviation of the intensity variation across the line scan, it is possible to determine whether or not a fingerprint is above ink on a paper substrate. The protocol adopted works for a selection of fingerprints from four donors tested here and for a fingerprint that was aged for six months; for one donor, the very faint fingerprints could not be visualized using either standard procedures (ninhydrin development) or SIMS and therefore the protocol correctly gives an inconclusive result.

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“…A latent fingerprint is formed when the sweat pores of the papillary ridges leave a deposition of perspiration on a surface with which the finger has been brought into contact (Thomas, 1978). Human body possesses the following three types of glands -viz.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Multimetal deposition method for detection of latent fingerprints: a review

Sodhi

Kaur

2017

Egypt J Forensic Sci

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Multimetal deposition is a versatile technique of detecting latent fingerprints on porous items, for example, fabric tape, masking tape, cardboard; on semi-porous items, for example, expanded polystyrene, latex gloves, waxed paper; as well as on non-porous items, for example, metals and plastics. It is so named because it is a two-step process, the first involves deposition of gold and the second deposition of silver on the ridges, thereby visualizing the latent impressions. Although a technique with a very wide range of applications, multimetal deposition is not very popular since the process of detecting fingerprints is quite cumbersome. In its modified form, called multimetal deposition II, some of the demerits of the original method are overcome. Multimetal deposition III and IV endeavor to further improve the performance of this technique. Yet another modification of the original multimetal deposition version is the fluorescent multimetal deposition -a technique which produces a better contrast of the ridges vis-à-vis the background.

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The physics of fingerprints and their detection

Cited by 86 publications

References 12 publications

Physical developer method for detection of latent fingerprints: A review

Physical developer method for detection of latent fingerprints: A review

Determination of the Deposition Order of Overlapping Latent Fingerprints and Inks Using Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry

Multimetal deposition method for detection of latent fingerprints: a review

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