How is the Navy's "super cheap" Laser Weapon Safe? (To crew, I mean)

[kumowoon1025]

I'm sure I'm late to the party, but in case you don't know what I'm talking about, it's this one, with the modified game console controller:

I can't really tell, but it looks something like a pulsed laser like in a laser cutter, and it takes a not insignificant time to melt/burn/vaporize its targeted object (the demo was kinda cheating imo when they shoot it at a bomb, but I digress)

Isn't that dangerous to anyone who happens to be looking at the target when it is being shot at with the weapon?

What is the crew supposed to do when they use it? Are they trained to avoid looking in the general direction before It fires? Do they only fire it when no one is above deck? Would they only use it on targets far enough away?

Or is what I'm thinking of not as big a issue as I think it might be?

 

[Alaskan]

Fricken CNN, I won't watch their stuff, even if interesting, that snipe aside, it's easy to control the crew, stay inside when it is active and if outside and need of being around it, wear laser safety glasses. This is all infrared though, isn't it?

 

[kumowoon1025]

Fricken CNN, I won't watch their stuff, even if interesting, that snipe aside, it's easy to control the crew, stay inside when it is active and if outside and need of being around it, wear laser safety glasses. This is all infrared though, isn't it?

I mean is it easy to control the crew though? Presumably in a situation where they need to use that thing, it won't be a leisurely time, but on even the smallest vessels (that the system can fit on) there are a lot of people throughout the ship. (I'm guessing. If anyone is in the Navy or the Marine Corps I'd appreciate your perspective greatly)

And I think it being IR makes it worse, it ranges far without dissipating much energy to air, and it's invisible! Lasers can blind you with invisible light you know.


P.S.
You know I actually hesitated before embedding the second video because of the CNN plug in the corner, haha. Maybe their reporting is a bit holier-than-thou but I watch for their international reporting.

 

[Alaskan]

Truth is, on subjects like that nothing wrong with CNN, I just have a grudge against them as an organization, sadly. Well, IR is dangerous too, I agree, but have you ever had flash blindness looking at a 1 watt spot of IR on the wall? I haven't. There are so many variables though, how reflective the surface is to the wavelength, how close you are to it, the wavelength of IR, some can get to your retina and harm it, other IR wavelengths just burn your cornea.... as if that isn't bad too. I have full faith the engineers have worked out the safety factors, we just need to find them to understand.

 

[RedCowboy]

Past 1400nm is usually considered " eye safe " which means it won't easily pass through the cornea and reach the retina, now enough power will burn the cornea just like it would burn your skin, but not at the low levels that retinal damage can occur, so strong diffuse reflections are not an eye hazard past 1400nm, this is why you see people working with fiber laser engravers without any eye wear and not going blind......however they may end up with cataracts after enough occupational exposure.

 

[kumowoon1025]

Truth is, on subjects like that nothing wrong with CNN, I just have a grudge against them as an organization, sadly. Well, IR is dangerous too, I agree, but have you ever had flash blindness looking at a 1 watt spot of IR on the wall? I haven't. There are so many variables though, how reflective the surface is to the wavelength, how close you are to it, the wavelength of IR, some can get to your retina and harm it, other IR wavelengths just burn your cornea.... as if that isn't bad too. I have full faith the engineers have worked out the safety factors, we just need to find them to understand.

Just the news division or Turner in general? And I've never had IR diodes, so the only points of reference I have are a 40W engraver or the kW range steel cutter at a plant I used to work at. (Both closed when in operation, don't think either scales very well to the 30kW pulsed weapon anyway )

But I suppose you're right, people much smarter than I am engineered the system, they must have thought of everything I did, I guess I'm just wondering how it works, like if the reflection is a non-issue, or if they all have to close their eyes when laser is on

 

[Alaskan]

Ah, they might not be smarter, just well trained in their professions. I have already commented enough about them.

 

[kecked]

Unless that surface is a good mirror and it happens to act as a retroreflector I doubt much energy will return from the target. It will return if at all as diffuse light. Energy spreading out 1/r2. It would be hard to do it on purpose.

 

[kumowoon1025]

Unless that surface is a good mirror and it happens to act as a retroreflector I doubt much energy will return from the target. It will return if at all as diffuse light. Energy spreading out 1/r2. It would be hard to do it on purpose.

Hmm, okay. But if there was a kW class IR laser shooting stuff around me I'd want goggles. Maybe I'm just paranoid but I've had a good scare when I thought my contacts somehow trapped dust underneath them but my eyes kept itching with glasses. Can't be sure, didn't get it checked out, but I think it was from a CO2 laser.

 

[Jim H]

Most likely, the laser is one of these two, which can be run in CW or pulsed mode. The exothermic chain reaction between H2 and F2 to yield vibrationally excited HF is the basis for an efficient chemical laser requiring little input of electrical power. Continuous-wave output powers of 2.2 MW at 2.7 μm (HF) and 3.8 μm (DF) have been produced in this way. In a pulsed mode, pulse energies of 5 kJ have been reported. Hydrogen fluoride and deuterium fluoride Hf, DF. Well outside eye hazard range as far as going past the cornea.

 

[kumowoon1025]

Most likely, the laser is one of these two, which can be run in CW or pulsed mode. The exothermic chain reaction between H2 and F2 to yield vibrationally excited HF is the basis for an efficient chemical laser requiring little input of electrical power. Continuous-wave output powers of 2.2 MW at 2.7 μm (HF) and 3.8 μm (DF) have been produced in this way. In a pulsed mode, pulse energies of 5 kJ have been reported. Hydrogen fluoride and deuterium fluoride Hf, DF. Well outside eye hazard range as far as going past the cornea.

I just assumed it was some sort of diode based system, I don't think they would release quotes saying pennies per shot and then later qualify it by saying "hydrogen/deuterium and fluorine not included" And fwiw, I was told that the itchy feeling might be due to the actual cornea heating up and being inflamed when I mentioned lasers, but this was a dentist telling me this, so I don't know if it's possible to have corneal damage from radiation with no noticeable effect to the retina, but apparently you can feel pain and/or go blind even if light (visible or not) doesn't make it all the way through your seeing balls.

EDIT:

Oh and p.s., speaking for myself, I'm just spitballing ideas here, All of this might be complete hogwash or irrelevant (I know I likely am) Just wondering, if there was someone who has had the chance to see a demo of the system here, would they be free to tell us about it at all? Or would it be a secret? (I'm assuming its not classified its on the news)

 

[kecked]

I think I’d be more afraid of the cloud of HF the device emits. Hope it gets scrubbed.