3 ms·
What is the energy deposited over what area and time period on the retina? That's what defines the damage done. Personally I would never mess with a DIY laser,
by Espressosaurus 4y ago
What is the energy deposited over what area and time period on the retina? That's what defines the damage done.
Personally I would never mess with a DIY laser, and especially not one with a wavelength outside of the visible range. Invisible lasers scare me, because the blink reflex isn't there to minimize damage.
- CamperBob2 4y agoYour last point is a good one -- the blink reflex can help avoid harm from visible lasers but it acts in ~100 milliseconds. This laser fires in, what, about 100 nanoseconds? It "blinks" for you, a million times faster than you can. Say it emits 100 watts for 100 ns when it fires. That's only 10 microjoules of energy. Not a lot of damage potential there unless it's firing at a very fast rate. Finally, if it's not collimated, it's not going to be concentrated enough to hurt you anyway. I wonder what the beam divergence is like...
- Espressosaurus 4y agoExactly. You'll notice there is no information here on anything related to the numbers essential for safety. I suppose you could derive the energy inputs at least, which sets an upper bound on the energy outputs. A 2ns pulse at a 100 Hz is small and slow, but I would like some guarantees and I want someone who has at least glanced at ISO 11553. Some garage bullshit made by someone who clearly hasn't even HEARD of laser safety is not what I want outside of a sealed box.
- CamperBob2 4y agoSome garage bullshit made by someone who clearly hasn't even HEARD of laser safety is not what I want outside of a sealed box A valid perspective, certainly, but at some point you may need to ask yourself if a site called "Hacker News" is right for you.
- Espressosaurus 4y agoUsually the hacks don't have the potential to irreversibly blind someone.