Laser safety
Posted in Tips
A recent discussion on the confocal listserv reminded me of the very nice section on laser safety in Sam’s Laser FAQ. (link)
A gem is this comparison between the power per unit area (on the retina) of the sun compared to that of a 1mW laser (many laser pointers are stronger than this):
Sun = 0.1 watts/mm2
1mW HeNe laser = 16.7 watts/mm2
Over 167 times the power of the staring at the sun!
And it only gets worse: your Ti:Sapphire laser is outputting 3000 times the average power of that 1mW HeNe. The photo above is what happens to the retina faster than you can blink. Please be careful.
By the way, 2 square meters of sunlight will melt anything on Earth.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=z0_nuvPKIi8
[…] Earlier, Labrigger covered the danger of retinal burns with lasers. […]