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Research Into Holograms Could Improve Forensic Fingerprint Analysis

Your fingerprint is actually 3D. Learn how fingerprints have been used as unique identifiers for decades.

Fingerprints have been used as unique identifiers for decades. AP Photo/Patrick Semansky null

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When you use your fingerprint to unlock your smartphone, your phone is looking at a two-dimensional pattern to determine whether it’s the correct fingerprint before it unlocks for you. But the imprint your finger leaves on the surface of the button is actually a 3D structure called a fingermark.

Fingermarks are made up of tiny ridges of oil from your skin. Each ridge is only a few microns tall, or a few hundredths of the thickness of human hair.

Biometric identifiers record fingermarks only as 2D pictures, and although these carry a lot of information, there’s a lot missing. A 2D fingerprint neglects the depth of the fingermark, including pores and scars buried in the ridges of fingers that are difficult to see.

I’m an educator and scientist who studies holography, a field of research that focuses on how to display 3D information. My lab has created a way to ...

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