Key words: lasers, calibrations, product testing, tech support
During FY 97, OST continued to provide support to the laser field compliance program through consultations on optical radiation measurements. The activities of OST's laser calibration laboratory provide validity to the measurements made in compliance testing programs nationwide. The OST Laser Calibration Laboratory maintains equipment for conducting high precision optical measurements. The laboratory measurement standard is a C-series calorimeter built by NIST. To assure the validity of measurements made by OST, periodic inter-comparisons are conducted with NIST, and in-house quality assurance procedures are followed.
Due to the advancing age of the instruments in the laser field instrumentation kits, it is anticipated that a calorimeter and power/energy meter will need to be removed from the kits, and replacement instrumentation will need to be purchased. At present, a replacement for the oscilloscope currently maintained in the kits is being evaluated in the OST laboratory and in the field.
OST also continued to provide support to the OC through the laboratory evaluation of laser products. OST evaluated 15 Class IIIa laser pointers that had been obtained as a follow up to an injury report. All pointers were confirmed to meet the Class IIIa limit of the laser product performance standard.