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Safety concerns from a RGB laser

ktroy

0
Joined
Mar 17, 2013
Messages
45
Points
8
I am curious as how a RGB laser compares to the power levels of a single colored laser when it comes to eye damage and safety. For instance, is a specular or diffused reflection from a 200mw green just as dangerous or more dangerous than a reflection from a 200mw RGB (100mw red, 75mw blue, 25mw green).
I know there are many factors involved so it might be hard to answer. But to make it simpler, if a 200mw green laser can burn through electric tape, would a 200mw RGB? Or would the maximum burn/power come from the 100mw red inside the RGB light?

Thanks
 





cev1

0
Joined
Apr 14, 2011
Messages
23
Points
0
Since all three colors are visible and roughly the same power and damage mechanism, they will act roughly the same as any single color of the sum power.
There is a slight caveat for specular reflections:
It depends somewhat on how precisely the three colors are aligned. The spot formed on your retina is very tiny (thus the problem in the first place). The lasers would have to be aligned well enough that all three tiny spots were overlapped. Since we generally want to include orders of magnitude of safety factor in laser safety, the factor of 2-3 in damage threshold that you might gain from lack of alignment is basically irrelevant.
 




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