Biological applications and effects of optical masers. Progress report Sep 80-Aug 81

A MILES prototype GaAs laser was installed in a visual acuity room where a trained monkey was exposed for 1000 s on a 5 day basis during its visual acuity testing program. Although previous exposures of the rhesus retina to 2 GaAs lasers in the pulsed mode did not produce funduscopically visible effects, a third GaAs laser (830 nm) modulated at 20.4 MHz did produce funduscopically visible damage at power levels too low to cause thermal damage to the retina. Possible explanations are discussed.