How to Build a Laser Death Ray

For Science Fiction Settings

Basic Concepts
Categories
- Heat Rays
- Blasters
Performance
- Range
  - Focus
  - Diffraction
  - Absorption
    - Linear Absorption & Scattering
    - Ionization
  - Twinkle
  - Depth of Field
  - Self Focusing & Filamentation
- Damage
  - Material Response to Average Intensity
  - Material Response to Peak Intensity
  - Penetrating Radiation
Safety
- Eye Damage
- Ionizing Radiation
Generating the Beam
Directing the Beam
- Mirrors
- Windows
- Beam Splitters
- Lenses
- Fresnel Lenses
- Zone Plates
- Grazing Incidence Mirrors
- Diffraction Gratings (including x-ray crystal diffraction)
- Fiber Optics
- Adaptive Optics
- Beam Pointer Telescopes
Design Considerations
- Heat Buildup
- Survival of Optical Elements
Wavelengths
Varieties
- Gas Lasers
- Chemical Lasers
- Diode Lasers
- Solid State Lasers
- Free Electron Lasers
  - Overview
  - Accelerators
    - Electrostatic
    - Syncrotrons
    - Linacs
    - Energy Recover Linacs
  - Wigglers
Power Supplies
- Generators
  - Turbine Generators
  - Flux Compression Generators
  - Magnetohydrodynamic Generators
  - Photovoltaic Cells
- Energy Storage
  - Batteries
  - Capacitors
  - Flywheels
  - Superconductive Solenoids
Worked Examples
- The Ravening Interplanetary Death Beam
- Space Dominance Laser
- The Kuoian Sheet Laser