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Why can I buy an IR LED Illuminator and not an IR Laser?

  • Douglas Shaw

The two distinct properties that can cause eye damage from LASER (yes, it actually is an acronym) are directionality and coherence. The directionality of a laser causes the beam to have low divergence. In other words, a very small amount of energy will diverge from the path you want to steer the laser beam – the beam does not spread as much. This, in combination with its coherence property, allows a laser’s energy to be well concentrated and arrive at the focal point at the same time. Typical laser eye damage is caused by your eye focusing onto the receptor. IR LED illuminators do not focus as tightly as IR lasers and will, therefore, not cause damage to your eye.

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