
APPENDIX
B–70114EN/04
E. GLOSSARY
174
E
GLOSSARY
Name Meaning
Access panel That protective component of a housing or enclosure which, when removed or
shifted, can cause exposure to laser radiation.
AEL Accessible emission level Maximum accessible emission level set up for each class of laser products
Alignment Optical axis adjustment
Aperture Iris, or stop
Beam Aggregate of unidirectional, diverging, or conversing rays
Beam diameter Distance between two symmetrical points in a cross section of a beam where
the power per unit area is 1/e as high as the maximum power per unit area
Beam divergence Angle through which a beam spreads
Burn pattern Laser beam mode pattern generated on a plate such as an acrylic plate for
confirmation purposes
Circular
Polarization
Polarization in which a plane of polarization rotates about the axis along which
the light progresses and does not have directivity; an electric or magnetic field
based on circular polarization has a constant intensity.
CO
2
laser Laser that uses a carbon dioxide gas as a laser medium
CW Continuous wave Continuously radiated laser output
Discharge excitation Realization of inverted population by means of discharge
Enhanced pulse Greatly amplified peak output of a pulse
Excitation Transition of atoms or molecules to a higher energy level by supplying them
with external energy
Exposure time Duration through which laser radiation is emitted
Fast axial flow laser Laser in which gas flows rapidly in the same direction as the laser beam
Feedback Corrective action in which a quantity to be controlled is compared with a target
value generated by feeding part of an output signal to the input through a spe-
cially created closed loop so that the quantity to be controlled matches the
target value.
Laser Device for generating light by stimulated emission
Laser controlled area Area in which activities are controlled or monitored for protection from hazards
resulting from laser radiation
Laser mirror Reflecting mirror used in a laser resonator
Laser safety officer Person having sufficient knowledge about evaluation and management of
hazards of lasers and in charge of safety management of lasers