Abstract: A high-speed optical fingerprint correlator. The invention uses the unknown ingerprint to produce a matched filter for autocorrelation and detecting and displaying the resultant indicia of correlation, the correlation peaks produced. The matched filter is produced by performing digital Fourier transform on the optically scanned digitized image input of the unknown print. The matched filter is then multiplied with the optically performed Fourier transforms on the reconstructed known fingerprint images provided in digital format from visual or digital storage.