PLANAR LASER ILLUMINATION AND IMAGING DEVICE EMPLOYING LASER CURRENT MODULATION TO GENERATE SPECTRAL COMPONENTS AND REDUCE TEMPORAL COHERENCE OF LASER BEAM, SO AS TO ACHIEVE A REDUCTION IN SPECKLE-PATTERN NOISE DURING TIME-AVERAGED DETECTION OF IMAGES OF OBJECTS ILLUMINATED THEREBY DURING IMAGIN OPERATIONS

An imaging device including at least one imaging array and image formation optics that provide a field of view corresponding to the imaging array. At least one illumination module (which includes at least one source of coherent illumination) produces planar light illumination that substantially overlaps the field of view corresponding to the imaging array. Illumination control circuitry modulates the power level of illumination produced by the source of coherent illumination during each photo-integration time period of the imaging array to thereby reduce speckle noise in images captured by the imaging array. The illumination control circuitry preferably modulates the power level of illumination by controlling the number and/or duration of time periods corresponding to different power levels of illumination produced by the source of coherent illumination during each photo-integration time period of the imaging array.