So really you dont think hand held laser weapons are anywhere in the near future?

I would have to agree with you if thats the case, atleast from what I know of present day batteries.

There are other ways to power a laser other than batteries, but in the near future lasers aren't possible cuz of their size. Like everything that is invented it gets smaller compare the old computers that were the size of rooms with a lap top today and the laptop is more powerful. Eventually lasers will be able to fit in guns in the future.

Right on about the computers Westpoint. Those old room size ones were not any more powerful than a modern pocket Calculator. A T.H.E.L.S might take up a large truck today but in the future you might be able to carry one in your pocket.

[edit on 2-8-2004 by ShadowXIX]

IF a doped crystal rod (not a laser rod) could be made that when electrical power was applied to it, it could produce 808nm light. With even 90% eff. and be pumped to 1kJ/cm2, then hand held lasers would be used in war.

How would a laser gun work? Would the laser be continuos ? Or will it be segmented?

Good question, Im thinking a pulse as it would be easier on your energy supply then a countinous beam. I could be wrong though as Its going to be awhile before we see any thing like that.

Maybe a combination of both

[edit on 2-8-2004 by ShadowXIX]

Lasers for infantry are useless because thay can't do what for for example 7.62 round can do - penetrate single brick wall. If some small battery is invented that is powerfull enough to be used in laser it would be better to use it to power the personal railgun.

Laser guns could be used not as killing weapons but as blinding weapons. Lasers can disable person's retina or a ccd chip either permanently or temporarly and it doesn't require much energy. If a scanning laser would be applied on a battlefield it could disable any light detecting device pointed to laser's active direction and not harm others.

Well currently we can't make a laser powerful enough to kill the size of a gun. But good example with the computer. Have a look at those rechargeable lithium batteries. In the future something similar could be used. But there is a new form of solar panel out know. This new solar panel could be improved significantly in the future. But it still isn't enough power. Who knows if we make cold fusion it might be possible to miniaturize it for portable use. That could provide plenty of power in a small size.

Lasers fill many applications, many of those are civilian applications, such as cutting diamonds(diamonds can cut rocks), laser eye surgery, and cutting greystone or masonry work.

But you are looking at it wrongly, Lasers with pulse fire will fit infantry, lasers with continuos fire will be able to fit large masses such as a ship of somesort, chemical lasers with continuous fire wil fit on intergalactic warships as a primary offensive capability.

Energy Railguns can fit on tanks since a large power source is needed and can fit on a large treaded platform.

As I have stated, lasers fit many different applications, and lasers can be powerful enough to shoot through 7 feet of solid lead or steel, such as where the chemical laser with continuous fire fits the application of being on a warship, with that capability, it can shoot at anything with extreme accuracy and provide continuous destruction to that opposing object.

Lasers can be as powerful as we make them, the mind is only limited to the far reaches of space and nothing more, use your imaginations and life might become easier or harder, dependent on the imaginator.

The sky is not the limit anymore.

Shattered OUT...

Cool talk about phaser set to stun. Im sure Police all around the world would love a less-lethal weapon like that.

Dammit, you beat me to posting that! I just read it off alt.engr.explosives!

Here is a brief intro to lasers:

A laser is a device that controls the way that energized atoms release photons. "Laser" is an acronym for light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation, which describes very succinctly how a laser works.
Although there are many types of lasers, all have certain essential features. In a laser, the lasing medium is “pumped” to get the atoms into an excited state. Typically, very intense flashes of light or electrical discharges pump the lasing medium and create a large collection of excited-state atoms (atoms with higher-energy electrons). It is necessary to have a large collection of atoms in the excited state for the laser to work efficiently. In general, the atoms are excited to a level that is two or three levels above the ground state. This increases the degree of population inversion. The population inversion is the number of atoms in the excited state versus the number in ground state.

Once the lasing medium is pumped, it contains a collection of atoms with some electrons sitting in excited levels. The excited electrons have energies greater than the more relaxed electrons. Just as the electron absorbed some amount of energy to reach this excited level, it can also release this energy. As the figure below illustrates, the electron can simply relax, and in turn rid itself of some energy. This emitted energy comes in the form of photons (light energy). The photon emitted has a very specific wavelength (color) that depends on the state of the electron's energy when the photon is released. Two identical atoms with electrons in identical states will release photons with identical wavelengths

You can already blind infantry with the distance-finding laser on an Abrams tank. Pops their retinas. That isn't a very big lasing device, either.

So, in a few years, infantry will have smartsuits with body armor sufficient to stop everything but heavy weaponry. They'll each be a mini-tank nearly impervious to small arms fire.

Then, some genius will come out with a backpack-powered laser rifle. This will be the 21st century musket. APCs and tanks carry greater lasers, ones that can fire continously. A generation later, soldiers will carry laser rifles without backpacks. At this point aircraft are no longer safe over a battlefield, because infantry can blow them out of the sky at the speed of light. Point and shoot and poof. The idea of air supremecy is retired - no one can hold supremacy when an infantryman can shoot and kill anything that's in his line of sight.

Meanwhile, ground combat between laser infantry is extremely violent. Only the heaviest tanks can avoid being lased through.

Hopefully by this point humans develop the ultimate weapon - intelligence, and cease organized warfare.

Lasers aren't superweapons. For conventional Combat a Laser can't do anything better than a railgun, which require less power to kill. Carbon Nanaotubes are almost invunerable to lasers anyway, and its easier to build Carbon Nanotubes than a lethal, portable laser, and their about 60 times stringer than steel. Pulsed Lasers are better because they break up the targets molecular bonds (or so i'm told). Lasers also have alot of trouble firing at long range in the atmoshpere. For spaceships particle beams are better, much more damage at longer range.