Fiber Coupled Laser Classification?

[r34p3rex]

If you couple a laser into a fiber (assuming there is no leakage of laser light), would it be considered a Class I laser? The light that exits the end of the fiber doesn't really exhibit "laser-like" properties any more as it diverges, right?

Let's say you inject the light from a Class IIIB 30mw laser into a fiber. At the tip, you measure 20mw of light (the rest of the light is lost inside the coupler/fiber, none of which escapes). 20mW, if emitted from the laser itself, would be considered Class IIIB (>5mW and less than 500mW). But how do you account for the fact that the light is no longer coherent?

 

[Cyparagon]

If someone could get the full 20mW of light in their eye, by accident or otherwise, it's still class 3b as far as I know.

 

[r34p3rex]

Ok so the classification is just based on the accessible power output, regardless of whether it's a coherent beam or not?

 

[Cyparagon]

Power density, too. If it were in a 2cm beam for example, it might count for class 2m.

 

[BShanahan14rulz]

Think about it this way: a high power blue LED is ~0.5W output. You can run our 445nm diodes to output 0.5W too, but instead of that power being radiated from a 1mm^2 surface, it is being radiated from a microscopic area.