Development Of Advanced Raman Spectroscopy Methods And Databases For The Evaluation Of Trace Evidence And The Examination Of Questioned Documents-Phase II

The work carried out in Phase I of the research project demonstrated that Surface Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy (SERS) is a valuable technique for the identification of organic colorants used in inks and for the dyeing of textile fibers, as well as for trace analysis of pharmaceuticals and of drugs of abuse. During Phase II the researchers plan to continue developing the SERS database and investigate emerging methods for completely non-destructive SERS analysis of documents and textile fibers. In addition, problematic ink systems such as gel pen inks and black inks will be investigated with the aim of creating a combined normal Raman / SERS approach to their characterization. ca/ncf