How Close are We to Creating a Handheld Laser Gun?

Laser guns are a staple of science fiction. Engineers are very good at making science fiction, science fact, with a lot of money and awesome science and engineering. So how close are we to creating a handheld sci-fi laser gun? “Ancient weapons and hokey religions are no match for a good blaster at your side, kid.” In this memorable line from 1977’s Star Wars, loveable smuggler and rogue Han Solo neatly summarizes the enduring appeal of the sci-fi hero’s classic sidearm. From the Martian heat rays in The War of the Worlds to the ray guns of Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers, the phasers and disruptors of Star Trek and the blasters of Star Wars, energy-beam weapons have been a staple of science fiction for over a century. As handy as a regular handgun but far deadlier, versatile, and boasting a near-infinite magazine capacity, they are the perfect way to tell your audience that your fictional universe is far more advanced - and way cooler - than our own. Of course, given how well punches and hand held weapons and the like pretty much always worked against the Borg, we are still left wondering why standard protocol wasn’t to ditch the phasers and replicate an AK-47 for everyone, similar to what Picard did in the second greatest movie of all time- Star Trek: First Contact. Of course, science fiction has a long history of becoming science fact - with, for example, the concept of a War of the Worlds death ray helped inspire the invention of radar in the 1930s. So, has anyone actually succeeded in creating a handheld sci-fi blaster, or is it really even possible at all? Well let’s dive into it, shall we? Author: Gilles Messier Host/Editor: Daven Hiskey Producer: Caden Nielsen Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices