Patent ID: 8309900

Claim:
A combined active and passive imaging system comprising: a first coherent radiation source comprising: a first master oscillator configured to output a first radiation beam; a first slave device configured to pulse the first radiation beam so as to output a first pulsed radiation beam coherent with the first radiation beam towards an object in a first scene, wherein the first scene is larger than the object; and a first optical switch configured to gate at least a portion of the first radiation beam such that at least a portion of the first radiation beam radiates a first detector during a temporal period when return radiation is returning from the object; a second coherent radiation source comprising: a second master oscillator configured to output a second radiation beam; a second slave device configured to pulse the second radiation beam so as to output a second pulsed radiation beam coherent with the second radiation beam towards the object in the first scene; and a second optical switch configured to gate at least a portion of the second radiation beam such that at least a portion of the second radiation beam radiates the first detector during a temporal period when return radiation is returning from the object; the first detector configured to simultaneously record a first instance of a first superposition of a first intensity pattern of a first interference between at least a portion of the first radiation beam and at least a portion of the return radiation from the object, and a second intensity pattern of a second interference between at least a portion of the second radiation beam and at least a portion of the return radiation from the object, wherein the first detector is further configured to record ambient light reflected from the first scene, and wherein the first detector is further configured to output a first signal with the recorded ambient light reflected from the first scene and a second signal with the recorded first superposition; and a processor communicatively coupled to the first detector, the first coherent radiation source, and the second coherent radiation source, wherein the processor is configured to receive the first signal and the second signal, and wherein the processor is further configured to select the object in the first scene.