Can the 300CD be used with a 6 watt argon laser?
Yes. In a 1988 test at a university laboratory, the stationary spokes of the chemically blackened 200-slot blade incorporated in the Scitec Instruments 300HF-200 accessory showed a damage threshold (beginning of discoloration) of 3 watts when irradiated by an Argon Ion Laser (UV, 351 and 363 mm) in a 2.25mm diameter spot for 2 minutes. Three watts in a 2.25mm spot is about 75 watts/cm2. If the beam were being chopped by a rotating chopper blade, the heating of the blade by the laser would be only about 1% as great since the 2.25mm laser spot traces out a circle on the blade equal to about 220mm long based on the spot impinging on our 100m diameter blade at a radius of 35mm (typical). Any irradiated spot on the rotating blade sees an average power of 0.75 watts/cm2 due to this duty cycle effect, under the same circumstances in which a stationary blade encounters 75 watts/cm2 in one spot. For the rotating blade to encounter 75 watts/cm2 average power at any point, the instantaneous power
