1. A method for identification of a material, the method comprising: illuminating the material with one or more light sources including at least one light source which emits light of controlled coherence properties; deriving both of a spectral characteristic and a speckle statistic, wherein the spectral characteristic and the speckle statistic are derived using light reflected from the illuminated material, wherein deriving the speckle statistic comprises capture of a speckle field reflected from the illuminated material, and analysis of the captured speckle field; comparing the spectral characteristic and the speckle statistic against plural entries in a database, wherein each entry in the database correlates the identity of a material against a corresponding spectral characteristic and a corresponding speckle statistic for the material; and determining at least one candidate for the identity of the illuminated material based at least in part on the comparison; wherein the one or more light sources include multiple coherent light sources including first and second laser light sources with respectively different wavelengths, wherein respective first and second speckle fields are captured, wherein the speckle statistic comprises a wavelength correlation, and wherein analysis of the captured first and second speckle fields comprises cross-correlation of the captured first and second speckle fields.