This green laser pointer from 2010 above is a class IIIa 532 nm diode laser rated at 5 mW and is legal in the USA.
“Continue reading” for more green laser information.
But is it? Measuring it with a silicon cell (calibrated to 10 mV per mW) reads 25 mW which is a lot higher than rated.
But wait, If you use an infrared transmission filter (ie only infrared passes) then it still reads 9 mW. Hence about 30% of the output is IR.
So actual power is 16 mW green and 9 mW infrared.
I had an earlier green LED module from 2004 which was similar but looked much less bright
A shot through my green laser safety glasses to show the effectiveness for green (but not red). However note that the red glasses do not block the infrared invisible component which is still 30% or more of the green. ie almost as much as the 10 mW red laser.
Green is 10 times the visual brightness of red for the same power
These photos were taken on a foggy night and compare the 5 mW green diode laser and the 10 mW red HeNe laser. Interestingly they seem of equal brightness to the eye as well as the camera. The first two photos are the same but taken from a different perspective and with different lighting.
Related pages
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External links
Class IIIa 532 nm diode laser
Green DPSS laser
Photo Date: 2004, 2010