A planar laser illumination and imaging system for illuminating an object and forming an image thereof. The planar laser illumination and imaging system which comprises an image formation and detection module having a field of view (FOV) focused at an image detecting array. A planar laser illumination array (PLIA) constructed from an plurality of planar laser illumination modules (PLIMs) is arranged in rectilinear manner. Each planar laser illumination module comprises a visible laser diode (VLD), a focusing lens, and a cylindrical optical element arranged therewith to produce a planar laser illumination beam component; and wherein the individual planar laser illumination beam components produced from the plurality of planar laser illumination modules are optically combined to produce a composite substantially planar laser illumination beam having substantially-planar spatial distribution characteristics that extend through the field of view (FOV) of the image formation and detection module, so that laser light reflected off an object illuminated by the planar laser illumination beam is focused along the field of view and onto the image detecting array to form an image of the illuminated object.