Product Code: JLA_24_1_012005

Authors:
Jed A. Simmons
Alan B. Marchant
Energy Dynamics Laboratory, North Logan, Utah 84341

A class 4 pulsed laser can be operated in a safe regime without reducing instantaneous irradiance or pulse energy by shortening its dwell time through duty cycle reduction or scanning. A conservative relationship for hazard distance as a function of scan rate is derived for the case of a scanning, retina safe laser.