Fingerprint acquisition for the criminal investigation by digital holography

Digital holography is proposed as a non-destructive fingerprint acquisition method in the criminal investigation field. Digital holography is a new imaging technology which combines the advantages of both the optical holography and digital processing. As an advanced optical diagnostic tool, digital holography allows to provide the quantitative phase information and the intensity information simultaneously. Based on the off-axis digital Fresnel holography, the principle of recording and reconstruction are analyzed, the reconstruction methods of the fingerprint amplitude and phase image are investigated, and the experimental results are presented. Both the theoretical analysis and the experimental results showed that digital holography does not destroy the on-site fingerprints, overcomes the shortcomings of traditional fingerprint acquisition methods, and as a simple and effective acquisition method can be applied to the criminal investigation field.