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Wave optical simulation of retinal images in laser safety evaluations
Author(s) -
Kotzur Sebastian,
Wahl Siegfried,
Frederiksen Annette
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
journal of biophotonics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.877
H-Index - 66
eISSN - 1864-0648
pISSN - 1864-063X
DOI - 10.1002/jbio.202000339
Subject(s) - optics , collimated light , laser , diffraction , laser safety , entrance pupil , lens (geology) , aperture (computer memory) , physics , gaussian beam , wavelength , radiation , gaussian , pupil , wavefront , optical radiation , computer science , beam (structure) , acoustics , quantum mechanics
Lasers with wavelengths in the visible and near infrared region, pose a potential hazard to vision as the radiation can be focused on the retina. The laser safety standard IEC 60825–1:2014 provides limits and evaluation methods to perform a classification for such systems. An important parameter is the retinal spot size which is described by the angular subtense of the apparent source. In laser safety evaluations, the radiation is often described as a Gaussian beam and the image on the retina is calculated using the wave optical propagation through a thin lens. For coherent radiation, this method can be insufficient as the diffraction effects of the pupil aperture influence the retinal image. In this publication, we analyze these effects and propose a general analytical calculation method for the angular subtense. The proposed formula is validated for collimated and divergent Gaussian beams.