Purposely looked at 50mw laser...

[Benm]

Sorry to hear you have permanent problems because of that.

Usually a graze like that doesn't have that much damage because it sweeps across your eye quickly, but even them damage can unfortunately be done.

Anything over 5 mW or so of visible output is a real hazard, and best not messed around with. Also, ordinary windows will refect 4% or so, which makes messing with 100 mW+ lazers ratgher dangerous even if they just bounce off a window back into your eye.

 

[micheal rosen]

Sorry to hear you have permanent problems because of that.

Usually a graze like that doesn't have that much damage because it sweeps across your eye quickly, but even them damage can unfortunately be done.

yeah, it was very close though, only a foot away maybe, so I think it was the IR that Got me. I should have been wearing safety glasses, but it's only a small spot in my vision, and is off center enough to let me read with the other eye closed, so it doesn't seriously effect my vision but it certaintly is a warning to others to be carefull.

 

[Benm]

To be honest i'd say that is a pretty serious incident. "Do not look into laser with remaining eye" sort of applies here - it is nice that you can read with the remaining eye for all practical purposes. On the other hand you have managed to criple the other eye to the point where you could no longer easily read with it.

As for the IR being the culprit: this is not really common at longer ranges - the 808 nm pump light is not focussed with the 532 at all. The 1064 nm light is, but with lasers designed with intra-cavity doubling the leakage of that is normally qutie small.

That said the laser could have been defective and have, for example, a very inefficient doubling crystal, yielding a relatively large output of 1064 nm with very little green. Since the doubling process is quite temperature dependent it is possible to get a very weak green beam under some circumstances while the 1064 leakage is as large as it normally would be.

This does not mean it leaks a lot of 1064 per se, but if you expected 100 mW of 532 and only got 1 mW, the relative amount of this invisible infrared could become substantial. Downside is that he total light would not appear very bright, blink reflex would be minimal, increasing the risk of accidental exposure.

 

[micheal rosen]

To be honest i'd say that is a pretty serious incident. "Do not look into laser with remaining eye" sort of applies here - it is nice that you can read with the remaining eye for all practical purposes. On the other hand you have managed to criple the other eye to the point where you could no longer easily read with it.

As for the IR being the culprit: this is not really common at longer ranges - the 808 nm pump light is not focussed with the 532 at all. The 1064 nm light is, but with lasers designed with intra-cavity doubling the leakage of that is normally qutie small.

That said the laser could have been defective and have, for example, a very inefficient doubling crystal, yielding a relatively large output of 1064 nm with very little green. Since the doubling process is quite temperature dependent it is possible to get a very weak green beam under some circumstances while the 1064 leakage is as large as it normally would be.

This does not mean it leaks a lot of 1064 per se, but if you expected 100 mW of 532 and only got 1 mW, the relative amount of this invisible infrared could become substantial. Downside is that he total light would not appear very bright, blink reflex would be minimal, increasing the risk of accidental exposure.

Oh, thank you for your concern, but I meant I can read with the damaged eye. It's not terribly serious, but certaintly scary.

 

[Benm]

Glad to hear that!

Any eye damage is scary, especially if its permanent. Even if you are able to read with the damage eye, i reckon that the defect is a daily reminder of the incident.

The risk is inherent to working with powerful lasers, it can happen to anyone, but should never be risked on purpose.