Biological Applications and Effects of Optical Masers.
Abstract
Repetitive exposures over a period of months to GaAs laser radiation under 'worst' viewing conditions, i.e. parallel beam entering the eye, have disclosed no injurious effects. Both the MILES prototype laser and another laser operating at 830 nm were tested. The conclusion is that the MILES GaAs laser does not present an ocular hazard to the soldier in the field. Other experiments with more powerful GaAs lasers have shown that it requires 5 to 8 mW entering the eye for periods of time ranging from 400s to 3000s to produce a minimal retinal lesion. This assumes that the eye remains fixed on the source. Argon/krypton 647 nm light is entirely equivalent to HeNe 633 nm light for retinal exposure times out to 1000s. Beyond 1000s, the 633 nm light requires significantly lower radiant exposures than 647 nm light to produce a lesion for reasons which are not understood. The radiant exposures for 40 microsecond pulses of 647 nm light at pulse repetition frequencies of 100 and 200 Hz required to produce a minimal lesion in the retina have been determined for exposure times ranging from 1s to 3000s.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Aug 01, 1983
- Accession Number
- ADA171386
Entities
People
- William T. Ham Jr.
Organizations
- Virginia Commonwealth University