Foster+Freeman ESDA 2

Related terms

3D Optical Scanning

Non-contact surface topography measurement using structured light or white-light interferometry to produce a nanometre-resolution height map of the document surface; an alternative...

Birmingham Six

Six men wrongly convicted in 1975 of the 1974 Birmingham pub bombings; their convictions were quashed in 1991 partly on the basis...

Corona Wire

A high-voltage wire in the ESDA instrument that deposits electrostatic charge uniformly over the Mylar surface; charge density is higher at points...

ESDA (Electrostatic Detection Apparatus)

A non-destructive technique for detecting indented impressions on paper caused by writing pressure. A physical ink signature on paper produces detectable ESDA...

ESDA Lift

The permanent transparent Mylar sheet carrying the toner-developed image of the indented writing, produced by ESDA processing; suitable for court exhibition and...

Indented Writing

Latent impressions produced in paper sheets beneath the writing sheet by the pressure of the pen tip; invisible under normal illumination but...

Mylar Film

A thin (approximately 6 micrometre) polyester film stretched over the document under vacuum in the ESDA process; it conforms to the document...

PACE (Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984)

UK legislation governing police investigative powers, including the code of practice requiring audio (and later video) recording of police interviews, a reform...

Sequence Evidence

In ESDA casework, the determination of the relative order in which pages in a notepad were written, based on which impressions appear...

Explained in

• Indented Writing and the ESDA Electrostatic Detection ApparatusThe current-generation commercial ESDA instrument (Foster+Freeman Ltd, Worcestershire, UK), used by the FBI Laboratory, DSTL (UK), Australian Federal Police, C...