Laser Safety Officer (AF) Exam Questions and Answers

Laser Safety Officer (AF) Exam Questions and Answers Class 1 Laser Classification - Answer-- cannot emit laser radiation at levels that are known to cause eye or skin injury during normal operation -very low power or beam is fully enclosed /.Class 1M Laser Classification - Answer--incapable of hazardous exposure conditions during normal ops unless viewed with collecting optics (binoculars) -exempt from control measures, other than to prevent optical aided viewing -exempt from other forms of surveillance /.Class 2 Laser Classification - Answer--low power, emit in visible spectrum (400-700 nm) -not considered strong enough to damage eyes because a person will normally blink and look away if it enters their eyes (aversion response) /.Class 2M Laser Classification - Answer--potentially hazardous if viewed with collecting optics -upper limit on a continuous wave laser in this class is 500 mW /.Class 3R Laser Classification - Answer--intermediate powered, hazardous under direct and specular reflection viewing -can produce no more that 5 mW in the visible region /.Class 3B Laser Classification - Answer--hazarous under direct and specular reflection viewing -not normally a diffuse reflection or fire hazard operate between 5-500 mW for CW systems cannot produce radiation energy greater than 0.125 J for pulsed systems /.Class 4 Laser Classification - Answer--high power, hazardous to eye or skin from direct beam -may pose a diffuse reflection or fire hazard -pose ancillary hazards including laser-generated air contaminants and hazardous plasma radiation /.Laser components - Answer--pumping system -lasing medium -optical cavity /.Pumping System - Answer--source of power that excites the lasing medium in order to create photons for the laser beam -can be an electrical source, a flash lamp or another laser /.Lasing Medium - Answer--what determines the wavelength of the system -four types: solid state, gas, dye, and semiconductor /.Optical Cavity - Answer--contains the lasing medium and reflective mirrors that guide the laser beam -provide amplification to create the desired laser parameters /.LASER acronym - Answer-Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation /.Beam Characteristics - Answer--monochromatic -coherent -collimated /.Monochromatic - Answer--light emitted by a laser is almost pure in color of a single wavelength /.Coherent - Answer--measure of the degree of phase correlation that exists in the radiation field of a light source at different locations and different times -waves are tightly in phase or in step with one another /.Collimated - Answer--parallel (highly collimated) fashion, high degree of a high level of directionality /.Modes of Operations - Answer--continuous or pulsed /.Radiant Energy (Q) - Answer--energy that is emitted, transferred, or received in the form of radiation; measured in Joules (J) /.Radiant Power - Answer--power that is emitted, transferred, or received in the form of radiation; measured in Watts (W) /.Radiant Exposure (H) - Answer--also called energy density -radiant energy striking a surface divided by the area of that surface over which the striking energy is distributed; measured in J/cm2 /.Irradiance (E) - Answer--also called power density -radiant power striking a surface divided by the area of that surface over which the striking energy is distributed; measured in W/cm2 /.Divergence angle - Answer--defines the rate at which a beam diameter expands or spread over distance; measured in milliradians (mrad) -lasers typically have divergence of 0.5 mrad