An iris recognition illumination system (400, 600, 700) that includes a red, green, blue, RGB, visible light display, the iris recognition illumination system comprising: a RGB laser device that is associated with at least a first collimating optic and that generates RGB laser light; an infrared, IR, illumination device (410, 725) that is associated with a second collimating optic (425, 620, 720) separate from the first collimating optic and that generates IR light, the IR illumination device being positioned at a fixed position relative to the RGB laser device within the iris recognition illumination system; a display module assembly, DMA, that includes a microelectromechanical scanning, MEMS, mirror system and a beam combiner, wherein the DMA optically combines the IR light generated by the IR illumination device with the RGB laser light generated by the RGB laser device to generate combined light, and wherein the combined light is directed towards an iris of a user's eye via a transport medium; and one or more photodetector(s) (485A, 485B) that are configured to capture reflected light that is reflected off of the user's iris as a result of the combined light being directed towards the user's iris via the transport medium, wherein the one or more photodetector(s) include at least an IR detector configured to detect reflected IR light included in the reflected light, the reflected IR light being usable by the iris recognition illumination system to perform iris recognition, wherein the RGB laser light is collimated RGB laser light and the IR light is collimated IR light, and wherein a collimated beam size of the collimated IR light is smaller than a collimated beam size of the collimated RGB laser light to enable the one or more photodetector(s) to capture the reflected IR light within a range of at least two line pairs per millimeter for iris recognition. a RGB laser device that is associated with at least a first collimating optic and that generates RGB laser light; an infrared, IR, illumination device (410, 725) that is associated with a second collimating optic (425, 620, 720) separate from the first collimating optic and that generates IR light, the IR illumination device being positioned at a fixed position relative to the RGB laser device within the iris recognition illumination system; a display module assembly, DMA, that includes a microelectromechanical scanning, MEMS, mirror system and a beam combiner, wherein the DMA optically combines the IR light generated by the IR illumination device with the RGB laser light generated by the RGB laser device to generate combined light, and wherein the combined light is directed towards an iris of a user's eye via a transport medium; and one or more photodetector(s) (485A, 485B) that are configured to capture reflected light that is reflected off of the user's iris as a result of the combined light being directed towards the user's iris via the transport medium, wherein the one or more photodetector(s) include at least an IR detector configured to detect reflected IR light included in the reflected light, the reflected IR light being usable by the iris recognition illumination system to perform iris recognition, wherein the RGB laser light is collimated RGB laser light and the IR light is collimated IR light, and wherein a collimated beam size of the collimated IR light is smaller than a collimated beam size of the collimated RGB laser light to enable the one or more photodetector(s) to capture the reflected IR light within a range of at least two line pairs per millimeter for iris recognition.