Raman Chemical Imaging of Explosive-Contaminated Fingerprints for Forensic Attribution

Abstract

Raman chemical imaging (RCI) has been used to detect and identify explosives in contaminated fingerprints. Bright-field imaging is used to identify regions of interest within a fingerprint, which can then be examined to determine their chemical composition using RCI and fluorescence imaging. Results are presented where explosives in contaminated fingerprints are identified and their spatial distributions are obtained. Identification of explosives is obtained using Pearson's cosine cross correlation technique using the characteristic region (500-1850 cm−1) of the spectrum. This study shows the ability to identify explosives non-destructively so that the fingerprint remains intact for further biometric analysis. Prospects for forensic examination of contaminated fingerprints are discussed.