A biometric
authentication apparatus having a simple configuration, able to easily focus on a
fingerprint or a
vein or other
blood vessel pattern and able to clearly capture an image of the same, able to prevent forgery, and in addition able to realize high precision
authentication, which biometric
authentication apparatus 100 having a transparent plate 110 formed by for example glass or plastic for placement of the finger of the authenticated person, that is, the inspected specimen OBJ, downward in the figure (surface where
fingerprint is located facing downward), a
fingerprint capturing use illumination apparatus 120, a
vein capturing use illumination apparatus 130, and an image capturing apparatus 140, which image capturing apparatus 140 has an
imaging lens apparatus capturing a dispersed image of an object passing through the optical
system and
phase plate, an
image processing apparatus generating a dispersion-free
image signal from a dispersed
image signal from the imaging element, and an object approximate distance information detection apparatus generating information corresponding to the distance to the object, and which the
image processing apparatus generating a dispersion-free
image signal from the dispersed image
signal based on the information generated by the object approximate distance information detection apparatus.