Product Code: ILSC2007_907

Temporal Effects of Turbulence on Laser Safety Ranges
Authors:
Noam Sapiens, NSLS Consulting; Rehovot Israel
Presented at ILSC 2007

The effects of atmospheric turbulence on the energy distribution and hence on the safety range of a laser are covered by most military and outdoor laser safety standards. In these standards, a formula for assessing the energy distribution maxima after traveling through a turbulent medium is given. This formula only considers the spatial distribution of the laser energy. An analysis is made to account for temporal effects such as pulse dispersion and repetitive pulses. This is accomplished by using the turbulence structure function. A simplified calculation procedure to account for these effects is presented.