A hand-supportable area-type planar laser illumination and imaging (PLIIM) based device comprising an area-type image formation and detection (IFD) module having a 2-D array of image detection elements. The IFD module also includes image formation optics having a 3-D field of view (FOV). The 3-D FOV focuses a 2-D image of said object onto the 2-D array of image detection elements. A pair of planar laser illumination arrays (PLIAs) are arranged on opposite sides of the linear image formation and detection module, and produce a plurality of spatially-incoherent planar laser illumination beam (PLIB) components that are optically combined with respect to other PLIB components so as to produce a composite PLIB. The composite PLIB is automatically swept through the 3-D field of view so that the composite PLIB is arranged in a coplanar relationship with at least a portion of the 3-D FOV.