In accordance with the present invention, a compact laser system with nearly continuous wavelength scanning is presented. In some embodiments, the compact laser system can be scanned over a broad range. In some embodiments, the compact laser system can be scanned at high scan rates. In some embodiments, the compact laser system can have a variable coherence length. In particular, embodiments with wavelength scanning over 140 nm with continuously variable scan rates of up to about 1 nm/μs, and discrete increase in scan rates up to about 10 nm/μs, and variable coherence lengths of from 1 mm to about 30 mm can be achieved.