Laser induced breakdownspectroscopy for rapid identification of different types of paper for forensic application

Abstract

The goal of this work was to examine the probability of instant identification of confidential documents for forensic application by comparison with a spectral library generated using laser induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS). The library consisted of representative spectra from different types of papers used for official (governmental) work. Statistical methods using linear and rank correlations were applied to identify the unknown paper. Both correlation methods yielded probabilities of correct identification close to unity for all the studied samples. The approach would have applications in forensic science.