Laser Safety
| Warning |
Caution- use of controls or adjustments or performance of procedures other than those specified herein may result in hazardous radiation exposure. |
The CAM1 contains a low power infra-red semiconductor laser diode.
The maximum accessible output power from the CAM1 is 1.5mW.
The output wavelength is nominally 780 nm.
The laser beam is focused to a spot about 5mm in front of the CAM1 L300 objective. The L300 objective has a numerical aperture of 0.14 Beam divergence from the focal point is about 16 degrees.
The CAM1 is supplied with the following labels ( black on yellow background) fixed on one side:
Users should read section 10 'Safety Precautions' of EN 60825 : 1991 'Radiation safety of laser products, equipment classification, requirements and user's guide'.
This publication does not think it is necessary to appoint a laser safety officer for class 3A products (such as the CAM1). However the user should check local requirements.
In normal use the CAM1 is positioned such that it is impossible to view the laser beam directly. For other uses the user should take precautions to prevent continuous viewing of the laser beam.
Although the CAM1 satisfies the Maximum Permissible Exposure levels (MPE) for skin exposure, the user should be aware that the power density is very high at the focal point. The main biological hazard from infra red radiation is considered to be due to heating. With the CAM1 in normal use, the total power is low & tissue mass large, skin tissue and red blood cell absorption at 780nm is low, and the power at the focal point will be much reduced in normal use due to scattering within the tissue. The CAM1 uses continuous wave (cw) radiation so there are no thermoacoustic transients. Latent or cumulative [photochemical] effects of laser radiation have not been found prevalent.