The wavelength of the laser has very different
characteristics. The 808nm we are looking at
using will actually shine through a couple of layers of skin and
then start burning. It also isn't really
visible, so you may not know it is happening.
Pretty dangerous. For 40Watts, the goggles should have
a rating of 4.5-5 to protect eyes. Make sure
that the goggles cover the wavelengths we are working with... they
tend to have very specific curves (not one size fits all).
Aside from direct exposure to the beam, the
reflections are dangerous. You may not know that
there has been eye or skin damage.
Different case materials react differently to
different lasers. We need to do some investigation to
determine what the best material is. In the training, they
had simple enclosures made of tinted plastic.
There is a expanded metal mesh on the bottom to
dissipate the beam. Typically, the enclosure
should dissipate the energy.
The MIT safety people would be happy to come
over and review our setup.
MIT will provide before and after eye exams.
If enclosed properly (in a lightproof box)
then there is no problem making a class 4 laser that is class 1
safe.