The US military doesn't even use laser pointers much any more. Maybe for pointing at a map during a briefing, but not for pointing at the enemy. Single-pulse range finders, yes. Continuous laser designators are "Hi, I'm an enemy, kill me now." They were more popular in the 1980s before everybody else got IR sensing technology.

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LorenPechtel 12 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Yeah, a beam of anything is asking for a beam-rider to find it. (Doesn't have to be a missile--wake-follower torpedoes are a form of beam-rider. They don't look for a ship, they try to follow a wake until they run under/into a ship. Passive so the enemy doesn't hear your sonar pinging, nor do sonar masking systems have any effect on it. The weakness is such torpedoes are very predictable and can be tricked into going for a towed decoy.)

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godelski 11 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

True, but I think this post is for a more general audience. Where continuous (and visible) lasers are still found on many things, including weapons.

It's also worth mentioning that the power rating in many commercial laser pointers should not be considered reliable. It's also possible to overdrive them. I'll put out this way, in my undergrad I spent a lot of time in the optics lab and the post doc had a fun story about where she was working with IR lasers. Basically it was "There's light! Yay! It's working! ... oh fuck! There's VISIBLE light! I'm burning my eyeballs!" It's easy to do some serious damage even with cheap electronics and expertise. The big problem is that laser damage happens without you feeling a thing. If you do feel it, you're probably getting seriously fucked up.

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kulahan 10 hours ago | parent [-]

I’m confused, how would she have seen the IR beam? Wouldn’t she be seeing some other effect, or was this literally so powerful it was in that realm of two-photon absorption

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ashdksnndck 5 hours ago | parent [-]

A beam of non-visible radiation can cause secondary radiation in various ways. Hopefully it’s the dust in the air fluorescing or being heated. Black-body radiation from some part of your eye would be concerning.

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godelski 2 hours ago | parent [-]

Additionally human eyes are sensitive to near infrared. Go look at a TV remote in a really dark place. Check with your phone because your phone can see it. If you can't then check with the nearest child, they'll tell you.

You lose sensitivity to this bandwidth as you get older. But if it's bright enough you'll see it. It's not like there's a hard cutoff in your eyes detection, it decays and you're very insensitive to big bandwidth, but not necessarily blind to them

	▲	kulahan 2 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Now that you mention it, I do remember occasionally being able to pick up on a faint red light in the remote control back when I was younger. It was easier to see with a phone’s camera I think?

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ACCount37 12 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

There are still a few laser designators and munitions that use them. Mostly LGBs, as far as I'm aware - JDAMs didn't eat everything yet.

	▲	ghssds 3 hours ago \| parent [-]
		For the benefit of everyone -- including me -- not knowing the meaning of those abbreviations, I looked it up on the Interweb. LGB : Lyrically gifted brother JDAM : Japanese digital art museum

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joecool1029 9 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Um, they used laser dazzlers pretty commonly in Iraq back in the 2000's? Soldiers fucking around with them would sometimes make the news: https://www.wired.com/2009/03/dont-lase-me-br/

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taejavu 7 hours ago | parent [-]

I don’t know if you’re ready to hear this, but the 2000’s was two decades ago…

	▲	subroutine 2 hours ago \| parent [-]
		HELIOS is currently on USS Preble.