Dazzler (weapon)
non-lethal weapon
A dazzler is a non-lethal weapon which uses intense directed radiation to temporarily disorient its target with flash blindness. Primarily intended to deter enemy forces from advancing in combat, it can also be used for hailing and warning. Targets can include electronic sensors as well as human vision.
Initially developed for military use, non-military products are becoming available for use in law enforcement and security.
Design
Dazzlers emit infrared light against various electronic sensors and visible light against humans. They are intended not to cause long-term damage to eyes. The emitters are usually lasers, making what is termed a laser dazzler. Most of the contemporary systems can be carried by a person, and operate in either the red (a laser diode) or green (a diode-pumped solid-state laser, DPSS) areas of the electromagnetic spectrum. The green laser is chosen for its unique ability to react with the human eye. Dazzlers produce diverging light that is less coherent (focused) than typical lasers, and emit larger, less concentrated beams which are easier to aim at greater distances, causing temporary blindness without incurring permanent eye damage.
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This entry incorporates text from “Dazzler (weapon)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.