Infrared laser illumination device

The invention describes an illumination device (100) for illuminating a three dimensional arrangement (250) in an infrared wavelength spectrum. The illumination device (100) comprises at least a first group of laser devices (110) comprising at least one laser device (105) and at least a second group of laser devices (120) comprising at least one laser device (105). The first and the second group of laser devices (110, 120) are adapted to be operated independent with respect to each other. The first group of laser devices (110) is adapted to emit laser light with a first emission characteristic and the second group of laser devices (120) is adapted to emit laser light with a second emission characteristic different from the first emission characteristic. The invention further describes a distance detection device (150) and a camera system (300) comprising such an illumination device (100). The different emission characteristics may be used to compensate or take into account the depth of the three dimensional arrangement (250). Different parts of the three dimensional arrangement (250) may be illuminated by means of the first and second emission characteristic in different ways.