Hello Kathy,
Your design engineers may be getting classical LEDs mixed up with Laser Diodes, which I have seen labelled as Laser LEDs. LEDs are the red, green, yellow indicators which have become commonplace everywhere. These put out a simple non-coherent light. I do not believe they are covered in any way by IEC 825. Laser diodes are low-power lasing devices which produce a coherent laser beam - quite a different animal. Because of the concentrated, coherent nature of the light beam, and the damage it could do to the eye's retina in particular, laser devices are particularly addressed by EN 60825 (IEC 825, etc.). The scope, power levels, labelling, protections required are all spelled out in IEC 825. If your engineers are playing with lasers and DON'T know about IEC 825, please do them a favor and get them a copy. Paul O'Shaughnessy Affymetrix, Inc. -----Original Message----- From: Kathy Toy [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Thursday, October 05, 2000 1:09 PM To: [email protected] Cc: [email protected] Subject: When is an LED a Laser? Hi: Our design engineers are using LED more often and have been asked if the LED are approved by IEC 825. My question: When is an LED a Laser? In other words, at what power level does an LED become required to meet the IEC 825 standard? Are there industry limits for specific LEDs? It seems that in the past LEDs were basicly ignored except for color issues. What is the current thought or rule on this issue? Thanks in advance, kt _/_/_/ _/ _/ _/ _/ Kathy Toy _/ _/ _/ _/_/ _/ Safety Compliance Engineer _/_/_/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ Office/Voice Mail:(650)786-3210 _/ _/ _/ _/ _/_/ Dept. FAX: (650)786-3723 _/_/_/ _/_/_/ _/ _/ Email:[email protected] M I C R O S Y S T E M S ------------------------------------------- This message is from the IEEE EMC Society Product Safety Technical Committee emc-pstc discussion list. To cancel your subscription, send mail to: [email protected] with the single line: unsubscribe emc-pstc For help, send mail to the list administrators: Jim Bacher: [email protected] Michael Garretson: [email protected] For policy questions, send mail to: Richard Nute: [email protected] ------------------------------------------- This message is from the IEEE EMC Society Product Safety Technical Committee emc-pstc discussion list. To cancel your subscription, send mail to: [email protected] with the single line: unsubscribe emc-pstc For help, send mail to the list administrators: Jim Bacher: [email protected] Michael Garretson: [email protected] For policy questions, send mail to: Richard Nute: [email protected]
