Optical power limiting for eye protection from tunable lasers

C. H. Winston Chen; Valeri V. Golovlev; W. R. Garrett; Robert V. Goedert; Thomas A. Whittaker III; Douglas W. Templeton

doi:10.1117/12.284163

10 October 1997 Optical power limiting for eye protection from tunable lasers

C. H. Winston Chen, Valeri V. Golovlev, W. R. Garrett, Robert V. Goedert, Thomas A. Whittaker III, Douglas W. Templeton

Proceedings Volume 3146, Nonlinear Optical Liquids and Power Limiters; (1997) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.284163
Event: Optical Science, Engineering and Instrumentation '97, 1997, San Diego, CA, United States

Abstract

Due to the extensive use of lasers in aiming devices, range fmders, and in remote sensing, the protection of eyes and sensors from laser beams becomes critically important. It has been a challenging task to provide protection from wave-length tunable lasers without the serious sacrifice of vision capability. In this work, we describe two different approaches which can significantly attenuate the laser beam through the whole visible region. One approach is to use specific geometric configuration with thin film aluminum mirrors"2. The other is to use the properties of reverse saturable absorption of fullerene3'4. The combination of these two approaches can possibly become an effective device for eye protection from high power tunable lasers. The principle and mechanism to achieve eye protection will also be discussed. The goal for eye and sensor protection is to attenuate the amount of incident light below the damage threshold. The ANSI standards indicate that for visible wavelengths and nanosecond pulse durations, the maximum permissible exposure on the surface of the comeas is about 0.2 J. The damage threshold by a nanosecond laser on a rhesus monkey was measured to be of the order of a few microjoules5.

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C. H. Winston Chen, Valeri V. Golovlev, W. R. Garrett, Robert V. Goedert, Thomas A. Whittaker III, and Douglas W. Templeton "Optical power limiting for eye protection from tunable lasers", Proc. SPIE 3146, Nonlinear Optical Liquids and Power Limiters, (10 October 1997); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.284163

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KEYWORDS

Mirrors

Eye

Photons

Molecules

Absorption

Aluminum

Pulsed laser operation

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