fpNATURAL 2 NIR-NIR Fingerprint Powder Suppresses Backgrounds to Reveal High Contrast Fingerprints

EVESHAM, U.K. - July 13, 2016 - PRLog -- Unlike 'regular' fluorescent powders, fpNATURAL^®2 is both illuminated and observed in the near-infrared region of the spectrum, suppressing colourful and/or patterned backgrounds to reveal high contrast prints with excellent ridge detail.

A finely milled blend of cuprorivaite (a blue mineral containing calcium, copper, oxygen and silicon), fpNATURAL^®2  is applied to evidence with a standard dusting brush and illuminated with a high intensity NIR 780nm light source. While both the illumination and fluorescence emitted are invisible to the naked eye, fingermarks dusted with fpNATURAL^®2 can be seen to fluoresce brightly against a dark suppressed background when viewed with an IR sensitive camera fitted with a NIR filter.

Developed exclusively by Foster+Freeman, the fpNATURAL^® range of IR fluorescent powders has been created in response to the need to visualise and enhance fingerprints on a wide range of difficult surfaces including polymer banknotes – a particularly challenging substrate that has high potential as a source of fingerprints as evidence.

During recent months the company has been working, with the assistance of the Bank of England and the Home Office Centre for Applied Science and Technology, to demonstrate fpNATURAL^®2 and NIR-NIR fluorescence as a highly effective technique for revealing prints on the new range of UK polymer banknotes due to be released in the UK later this year.

A paper detailing fpNATURAL^®2 and its potential to develop fingerprints at the crime scene and forensic laboratory was accepted for publication by Forensic Science International on the 16^th March 2016.

Find out more here: http://www.fosterfreeman.com/627-infrared-fingerprint-pow...