The Non Destructive and In-Situ Identification of Different Black Inks

It has been a problem for a long time for forensic scientists, customs officials and historians alike to be able to verify and authenticate printed documents just from the inks that have been used. The technique of Raman Microscopy offers a non destructive mode of ink analysis which can directly identify and characterize specific inks found on the paper surface. The following is a brief study of black inks commonly used in different desktop printers, and the identification of the source of a particular document using the LabRAM Analytical Raman Microscope from Horiba Scientific.