Planar laser illumination and imaging (PLIIM) systems

A planar laser illumination and imaging (PLIIM) based system with automatic laser beam power density compensation, said PLIIM based system comprising:

• an image formation and detection module having a field of view (FOV) focused at an image detecting array;
• and
• a planar laser illumination array (PLIA) for producing a planar laser illumination beam (PLIB) having substantially-planar spatial distribution characteristics that extend through the field of view (FOV) of said image formation and detection module, so that laser light reflected off an object illuminated by said planar laser illumination beam is focused along said field of view and onto said image detecting array to form an image of said illuminated object;
• wherein said planar laser illumination beam has a beam width which increases as a function of increasing object distance in said PLIIM based system;
• and
• wherein the height of said planar laser illumination beam decreases as the object distance increases, compensating for the increase in beam width in said planar laser illumination beam which occurs for an increase in object distance,
• thereby yielding a laser beam power density on the target object which increases as a function of increasing object distance over a substantial portion of the object distance range of said PLIIM based system.