Chapter 7

Forensic microscopy

Terms
Virtual image Real image

Physical properties of light

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Compound microscopes
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Compound microscope terminology

Transmitted illumination (below) Reflected illumination (above) Condenser Iris diaphragm Parfocal Monocular Binocular Depth of focus Field of view

Compound microscope
40-450x magnification (up to 1000x)

Comparison microscope
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Stereoscopic microscope
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Stereoscopic microscope
Most frequently used in forensics 10-125x range Large working distance
Good for bulky artifacts

Wide field of view & great depth of focus (3-D images)

Trace evidence on artifacts

Polarizing microscopy

Polarized light

Polarizing microscope
Polarizer Analyzer

Polarizing microscopy
Analyzer out of path = plane polarized light; gives specimens true color Analyzer in path = crossed polars; gives specimens interference color

Polyester, plane-polarized light

Polyester, under crossed polars

Polarizing microscopy
Improves specimen contrast

Stained plant fibers, left stained; right polarized light

Polarizing microscopy
Birefringence

Calcite produces two images when it is placed over the blue pencil. One of the images appears normally as when viewing an object through clear glass. The other pencil image appears displaced, due to the nature of doubly-refracted light. When anisotropic crystals refract light, the resulting rays are polarized and travel at different velocities. One of the rays travels with the same velocity in every direction through the crystal and is termed the ordinary ray. The other ray travels with a velocity that is dependent upon the structural properties of the crystal

Polarizing microscopy
Many crystalline substances are birefringent
Forensic analysis of soil components

Many synthetic fibers are birefringent

Microspectrophotometer
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Principles of spectroscopy
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Principles of spectroscopy
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Microspectrophotometer
Infrared spectromicroscopy

Scanning electron microscopy

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Scanning electron microscopy

High magnification (up to 100,000x) Excellent focal depth (3-D) Used with X-ray analyzer (Fig 7-12), can identify elemental composition of a specimen
Has a suspect fired a gun?

Pollen identification

Online microscopy resources

Molecular expressions Olympus Microscopy Resource Center

For next class

Read chapter 7
Read chap. 7 Case Reading

Reading #1 (reading pack)