Coherent's laser tool featured on "Law & Order"

Santa Clara, CA, May 11, 2004--A forensic laser system from Coherent, Inc. has been featured this season in the long-running NBC crime drama "Law & Order." The laser-based tool has been scripted into midseason shows, one of which has already aired.

The laser was chosen for use in "Law and Order" by Ron Stone, Property Master at Wolf Films, in association with Universal Network Television, LLC. According to Stone, "One of the keys to the continued success of 'Law & Order' is its emphasis on authenticity; we show how crimes are solved and prosecuted at the nuts and bolts level. Our use of this laser tool enables us to realistically show forensic work, while entertaining the viewer with a taste of laser-age technology."

The tool uses the 532-nm output from a frequency-doubled Nd:YV04 (vanadate) laser to reveal fingerprints that have been glue-fumed and highlighted with rhodamine 6G. This is also an optimum wavelength for exciting ninhydrin, another fluorescent material commonly used to find and image fingerprints on porous surfaces that are not compatible with glue fuming. Light from a 532-nm-emitting solid-state laser is delivered to a trigger-grip handpiece through an armored fiberoptic cable enclosed within a waterproof umbilical connector. This umbilical also incorporates a link between the handpiece and the laser, allowing a safety shutter inside the laser to be controlled by the handpiece trigger.

The laser system can be used in a conventional forensic laboratory or incorporated into a mobile crime lab, owing to its low power consumption and self-contained cooling system. A number of crime labs currently use the device, including numerous police departments as well as federal law-enforcement groups such as ATF (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms).