This paper presents a novel personal identification method by extracting unique object features from optical speckle patterns using the SIFT (Scale Invariant Feature Transform) algorithm. Accurate recognition is achieved by
developing an invariant speckle capturing device and recognition criteria. Experimental results show that the optical speckle pattern of a given material is invariant after slight movement and the optical speckle patterns captured from different areas of the same material are distinct. Therefore, this merit can be adopted for security applications by using the object surface as the personal identification card and extracting speckle patterns from this surface to recognize the identity of certain subject.