Critical Factors In Selecting Laser Safety Glasses

It's common for professionals and hobbyists alike to work with lasers in all manner of situations such as in the dentist's office, in manufacturing plants, and elsewhere. Here are the three major factors to consider when picking laser safety glasses, depending on your particular situation.

The Need for Safety

Lasers are used for military applications, across a wide number of medical applications, for R and D, for telecommunications, and in industrial plants. This means that the exact type of glasses you need will vary a bit from time to time. It could even vary between jobs. That's why it's important to make sure you take a look at the critical factors in laser protection selection.

Density of Optics

This will vary based on the exact type of laser that you're using. For example, if you're using a laser in order to create proper alignment in manufacturing or any other industry, this often means that the laser itself has to be completely visible to the naked eye. This means that you're going to need an optical density, or OD, that can handle visible spectrum lasers. This should be noted on the glasses in question. This has to do largely with the intensity and power in the beam.

Wavelength

Another aspect of glasses that you must pay attention to is what type of wavelength you're dealing with in general. If you're working with more than one type of laser wavelength at the same time, you will likely need more than one type of glass filtration protection. This may include polarized lenses, photochromic lenses, tinted glasses, or a combination depending upon the wavelength you need to protect your eyes from.

Style of Frame

Depending on the application that you're going to use the glasses for, you may need to find a wrap-around frame design. This would be a good choice if for example, you're concerned about errant laser beams coming in from other workstations or that you might get hit with from odd angles.

Alternatively, you may instead want frames that are lightweight if you need to walk around with them on for a longer period of time, or if the protection you need is of a more casual variety such as if you're a hobbyist using commercially available laser pointers or other laser accessories. Another important thing to keep in mind is any individual variation that might make glasses harder to wear.

For example, if you have a larger head or voluminous hair, this needs to be taken into account. You can get larger frames to account for this. Visit http://www.phillips-safety.com/ for more information.