A procedure for the estimation of intrabeam hazard distances and optical density requirements under the ANSI Z136.1-2000 Standard

Over the past few years, a comprehensive rewrite of the American National Standard for Safe Use of Lasers (ANSI Z136.1) has been conducted [American National Standards Institute, Z136.1-2000 American National Standard for Safe Use of Lasers (American National Standards Institute, New York, 2000)]. Important parts of many laser safety evaluations are the determination of the maximum distance at which the laser presents a hazard and the computation of optical density requirements for eye protection. In the ANSI Z136.1-2000 Standard, two approaches for the computation of hazard distance are presented. We specifically address the derivation of these two methodologies including the effects of atmospheric attenuation and optically aided viewing. In addition, these methodologies may be applied to the computation of visual interference distance as described in the ANSI Z136.6-2000 Standard [American National Standards Institute, Z136.6-2000 American National Standard for Use of Lasers Outdoors (American National Standards Institute, New York, 2000)]. This publication represents the third in a series of tutorial articles designed to clarify laser hazard analysis procedures under these ANSI Standards [R. J. Thomas, B. A. Rockwell, W. J. Marshall, R. C. Aldrich, S. A. Zimmerman, and R. J. Rockwell, Jr., J. Laser Appl. 13, 134–140 (2001); 14, 57–66 (2002)].