Wavelength and ambient luminance dependence of laser eye dazzle

Craig A. Williamson; Leon N. McLin; J. Michael Rickman; Michael A. Manka; Paul V. Garcia; Wesley T. Kinerk; Peter A. Smith

doi:10.1364/AO.56.008135

Applied Optics
Vol. 56,
Issue 29,
pp. 8135-8147
(2017)
•https://doi.org/10.1364/AO.56.008135

Wavelength and ambient luminance dependence of laser eye dazzle

Craig A. Williamson, Leon N. McLin, J. Michael Rickman, Michael A. Manka, Paul V. Garcia, Wesley T. Kinerk, and Peter A. Smith

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Craig A. Williamson, Leon N. McLin, J. Michael Rickman, Michael A. Manka, Paul V. Garcia, Wesley T. Kinerk, and Peter A. Smith, "Wavelength and ambient luminance dependence of laser eye dazzle," Appl. Opt. 56, 8135-8147 (2017)

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- Lasers and Laser Optics
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About this Article
History
- Original Manuscript: July 20, 2017
- Revised Manuscript: August 23, 2017
- Manuscript Accepted: August 24, 2017
- Published: October 4, 2017

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Abstract

A series of experiments has been conducted to quantify the effects of laser wavelength and ambient luminance on the severity of laser eye dazzle experienced by human subjects. Eight laser wavelengths in the visible spectrum were used (458–647 nm) across a wide range of ambient luminance conditions ( $0.1 - 10,000 cd \cdot m^{- 2}$ ). Subjects were exposed to laser irradiance levels up to $600 μW \cdot {cm}^{- 2}$ and were asked to recognize the orientation of optotypes at varying eccentricities up to 31.6 deg of visual angle from the laser axis. More than 40,000 data points were collected from 14 subjects (ages 23–64), and these were consolidated into a series of obscuration angles for comparison to a theoretical model of laser eye dazzle. Scaling functions were derived to allow the model to predict the effects of laser dazzle on vision more accurately by including the effects of ambient luminance and laser wavelength. The updated model provides an improved match to observed laser eye dazzle effects across the full range of conditions assessed. The resulting model will find use in a variety of laser safety applications, including the estimation of maximum dazzle exposure and nominal ocular dazzle distance values.

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Corrections

Craig A. Williamson, "Wavelength and ambient luminance dependence of laser eye dazzle: erratum," Appl. Opt. 58, 8108-8108 (2019)
https://opg.optica.org/ao/abstract.cfm?uri=ao-58-29-8108

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Experiment Location	Indoor	Outdoor	Indoor	Indoor	Outdoor
Ambient luminance ( $cd \cdot m^{- 2}$ )	0.1	1	10	1000	10,000
Laser wavelengths (nm)		458	458
		488	488
		502	502
		515	515		515
	532	532	532	532	532
		568	568		568
		593	593		593
	647	647	647	647	647

Wavelength (nm)	System Used
458	Argon gas–Coherent Inc./Innova Sabre
488	Argon gas–Coherent Inc./Innova Sabre
502	Argon gas–Coherent Inc./Innova Sabre
515	Argon gas–Coherent Inc./Innova Sabre
532	Diode-pumped solid state–Coherent/Verdi 18 W
568	Krypton gas–Coherent/Innova Sabre
593	Fiber–MPB Communications/CW Visible Fiber
647	Krypton gas–Coherent/Innova Sabre

E Size (°)	Bar Size (°)	Snellen Equivalent	Contrast
0.4	0.08	20/96	$0.6 (= 60 %)$
0.8	0.16	20/192	$0.7 (= 70 %)$

Experiment Location	Number of Subjects	Average Age (Years)	Average Eye Pigmentation
Indoor	12	$38.4 \pm 13.5$	$0.67 \pm 0.31$
Outdoor	12	$40.0 \pm 12.4$	$0.63 \pm 0.36$

Ambient Luminance ( $cd \cdot m^{- 2}$ )	$C_{th}$ for Negative Contrast, Monocular Viewing
	$Size = 0.08 °$ , 60%		$Size = 0.16 °$ , 70%
	$Age = 25$	$Age = 55$	$Age = 25$	$Age = 55$
0.1	—	—	0.139	0.219
1	0.169	0.267	0.054	0.085
10	0.081	0.127	0.033	0.052
1000	0.062	0.097	0.030	0.047
10,000	0.068	0.108	0.031	0.049

	Old Model [11]	Updated Model
$k_{amb}$	$0.9239 L_{b}^{0.6795}$	$0.9147 L_{b}^{0.1775}$
458 nm	$V_{λ} = 0.08$	$k_{λ} = 0.04$
488 nm	0.22	0.14
502 nm	0.37	0.30
515 nm	0.61	0.62
532 nm	0.88	1.17
568 nm	0.98	1.54
593 nm	0.78	0.72
647 nm	0.14	0.15

Ambient Luminance ( $cd \cdot m^{- 2}$ )	Laser Irradiance ( $μW \cdot {cm}^{- 2}$ )	Threshold Eccentricity (deg)
Ambient Luminance ( $cd \cdot m^{- 2}$ )	Laser Irradiance ( $μW \cdot {cm}^{- 2}$ )	Old Model	New $k_{amb}$	New $k_{amb}$ & New $k_{λ}$	Exp.
1000	190	6.8	1.5	1.7	1.6–2.3
10	19	4.8	2.9	3.3	4.9–6.6
0.1	1.9	7.1	12.6	14.7	9.4–16.6

Laser Wavelength (nm)	Threshold Eccentricity (deg)
Laser Wavelength (nm)	Old Model	New $k_{amb}$	New $k_{amb}$ & New $k_{λ}$	Exp.
458	4.7	2.8	2.1	1.7–3.0
488	7.6	4.4	3.6	3.0–4.8
502	9.7	5.6	5.0	4.2–6.5
515	12.5	7.0	7.1	5.7–8.6
532	15.2	8.4	9.6	8.5–12.9
568	16.2	8.8	11.1	8.9–13.9
593	14.3	7.9	7.6	6.1–9.1
647	6.0	3.6	3.7	3.8–6.1

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Applied Optics