Laser Safety Calculations for Imaging Sensors

Abstract

This publication presents an approach to adapt the well-known classical eye-related concept of laser safety calculations on camera sensors as general as possible. The difficulty in this approach is that sensors, in contrast to the human eye, consist of a variety of combinations of optics and detectors. Laser safety calculations related to the human eye target terms like Maximum Permissible Exposure (MPE) and Nominal Ocular Hazard Distance (NOHD). The MPE describes the maximum allowed level of irradiation at the cornea of the eye to keep the eye safe from damage. The hazard distance corresponding to the MPE is called NOHD. Recently, a laser safety framework regarding the case of human eye dazzling was suggested. For laser eye dazzle, the quantities Maximum Dazzle Exposure (MDE) and the corresponding hazard distance Nominal Ocular Dazzle Distance (NODD) were introduced. Here, an approach is presented to extend laser safety calculations to camera sensors in an analogous way. The main objective thereby was to establish closed-form equations that are as simple as possible to allow also non-expert users to perform such calculations. This is the first time that such investigations have been carried out for this purpose.

Keywords

• laser safety
• laser dazzle
• laser damage
• imaging sensors