While laser light shows operate in the visible spectrumviewers wouldn't be able to see them otherwiselidar units tend to operate outside the visible spectrum. Lidar designed for automotive applications tends to use one of two frequency ranges.

Some lidar companies use lasers with a wavelength of 905nm (or 850nm in Ouster's case). These wavelengths are attractive to companies because sensors can be made using conventional silicon-based fabrication techniques. The downside, however, is that it's relatively easy for lasers at these wavelengths to damage the human retina. So safety requires strict limits on laser power.

Other lidar makers use lasers with a wavelength of 1550nm. This tends to be more expensive because sensors have to be made out of exotic materials like indium-gallium arsenide rather than silicon. But it also has a big advantage: the fluid in the human eye is opaque to 1550nm light, so the light can't reach the retina at the back of the eye. This means lasers can operate at much higher power levels without posing an eye safety risk.

AEye uses 1550nm lasers. And unfortunately for Chowdhury, cameras are not filled with fluid like human eyes are. That means that high-power 1550nm lasers can easily cause damage to camera sensors even if they don't pose a threat to human eyes.

A man attending this week's CES show in Las Vegas says that a lidar sensor from startup AEye has permanently damaged the sensor on his $1,998 Sony camera. Earlier this week, Jit Ray Chowdhury, an autonomous vehicle engineer at the startup Ridecell, snapped photos of a car at CES with AEye's lidar units on top. He discovered that every subsequent picture he took was marred by two bright purple spots, with horizontal and vertical lines emanating from them.

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And tubes, many many tubes have fallen prey to lasers as well.

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YOU NEED LAZAR-BLOCK!