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The Hazards of Infrared Lasers
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I think it sounds like a cool idea, but it does seem unnecessarily dangerous to me. A normal laser pointer won't damage your eye that bad. A minor glance across they eye may cause temporary blindness. An infrared [burning] laser pointer will do serious permanent damage to the eye instantly. I work in a laser lab at a university and had to go through a laser safety course when I started. Part of it was a disturbing video of a presumably dead rabbit's eyeball being melted by an infrared laser. It's hard for me not to take such lasers seriously when remembering that video.

In the lab, we keep all beams level and at waste height so that there are no stray beams at eye level. Of course you have to be very careful about bending down to pick things up and things like wristwatches are considered extremely dangerous. I think that vaporizing DMT would be excessively hazardous if it involved pointing an infrared beam at a reflective vaporizer. It would be even more dangerous in a group.
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Sorry for preaching about safety when you've heard the same thing from so many others. I just felt it important that the dangers of infrared lasers should be emphasized once again.

Regarding the feasibility of this project, there are 3 things that I think would make laser vaporization much safer if not completely safe:
1. Everyone in the vicinity of the vaporizer wears goggles that filter out infrared.
OR 2. The laser is somehow mounted to the GVG such that it can only point into the bowl (or whatever it's called) and the beam cannot escape.
OR 3. The beam is expanded via a lens so that it is only hot at close range (within, say, 3 inches). A negative infrared lens could be mounted to the end of the laser and this would make it much safer to work with around eyeballs (since beam power decreases by 1/distance^2 for an expanded beam).

2 and 3 are essentially the same suggestions that phlux and SKA made (respectively).

<blockquote data-quote="hixidom" data-source="post: 3565570" data-attributes="member: 12065">The Hazards of Infrared Lasers********************************************************************************************************************I think it sounds like a cool idea, but it does seem unnecessarily dangerous to me.&nbsp; A normal laser pointer won&#039;t damage your eye that bad.&nbsp; A minor glance across they eye may cause temporary blindness.&nbsp; An infrared [burning] laser pointer will do serious permanent damage to the eye instantly.&nbsp; I work in a laser lab at a university and had to go through a laser safety course when I started.&nbsp; Part of it was a disturbing video of a presumably dead rabbit&#039;s eyeball being melted by an infrared laser.&nbsp; It&#039;s hard for me not to take such lasers seriously when remembering that video.In the lab, we keep all beams level and at waste height so that there are no stray beams at eye level.&nbsp; Of course you have to be very careful about bending down to pick things up and things like wristwatches are considered extremely dangerous.&nbsp; I think that vaporizing DMT would be excessively hazardous if it involved pointing an infrared beam at a reflective vaporizer.&nbsp; It would be even more dangerous in a group.************************************************************************************************************************Sorry for preaching about safety when you&#039;ve heard the same thing from so many others.&nbsp; I just felt it important that the dangers of infrared lasers should be emphasized once again.Regarding the feasibility of this project, there are 3 things that I think would make laser vaporization much safer if not completely safe:1. Everyone in the vicinity of the vaporizer wears goggles that filter out infrared.OR 2. The laser is somehow mounted to the GVG such that it can only point into the bowl (or whatever it&#039;s called) and the beam cannot escape.OR 3. The beam is expanded via a lens so that it is only hot at close range (within, say, 3 inches).&nbsp; A negative infrared lens could be mounted to the end of the laser and this would make it much safer to work with around eyeballs (since beam power decreases by 1/distance^2 for an expanded beam).2 and 3 are essentially the same suggestions that phlux and SKA made (respectively).</blockquote>

[QUOTE="hixidom, post: 3565570, member: 12065"] The Hazards of Infrared Lasers ********************************************************** ********************************************************** I think it sounds like a cool idea, but it does seem unnecessarily dangerous to me. A normal laser pointer won't damage your eye that bad. A minor glance across they eye may cause temporary blindness. An infrared [burning] laser pointer will do serious permanent damage to the eye instantly. I work in a laser lab at a university and had to go through a laser safety course when I started. Part of it was a disturbing video of a presumably dead rabbit's eyeball being melted by an infrared laser. It's hard for me not to take such lasers seriously when remembering that video. In the lab, we keep all beams level and at waste height so that there are no stray beams at eye level. Of course you have to be very careful about bending down to pick things up and things like wristwatches are considered extremely dangerous. I think that vaporizing DMT would be excessively hazardous if it involved pointing an infrared beam at a reflective vaporizer. It would be even more dangerous in a group. ************************************************************ ************************************************************ Sorry for preaching about safety when you've heard the same thing from so many others. I just felt it important that the dangers of infrared lasers should be emphasized once again. Regarding the feasibility of this project, there are 3 things that I think would make laser vaporization much safer if not completely safe: 1. Everyone in the vicinity of the vaporizer wears goggles that filter out infrared. OR 2. The laser is somehow mounted to the GVG such that it can only point into the bowl (or whatever it's called) and the beam cannot escape. OR 3. The beam is expanded via a lens so that it is only hot at close range (within, say, 3 inches). A negative infrared lens could be mounted to the end of the laser and this would make it much safer to work with around eyeballs (since beam power decreases by 1/distance^2 for an expanded beam). 2 and 3 are essentially the same suggestions that phlux and SKA made (respectively). [/QUOTE]