Laser A laser was a directed - energy technology utilizing a beam of light , with all wavelengths equal and all particle s in phase with one another . Due to this , the photon ' s motion was almost parallel , which allowed the beam to travel over a great distance with very little increase of the beam ' s square area , and therefore with little loss of energy per area . The word " laser " is an acronym for Light Amplification by the Stimulated Emission of Radiation . Lasers had a variety of uses in medicine , computer s , mining , and power generation , such as fusion reactor s . Examples . In 1996 , both Rain Robinson and mistook phaser weapons for lasers . ( ) Some of the first lasers constructed operated by passing light through natural crystal s . These " ancient lasers " then achieved a necessary excitation and emitted a laser beam . Rubindium crystals were capable of producing a laser beam , even with only a low source of light . ( ) An industrial laser cannon was used by the laborers of the Orpheus Mining colony on Luna in 2155 . ( ) A laser beacon was part of the Starfleet equipment issued aboard the . Lieutenant DeSalle used the laser beacon to attempt to signal the ship visually from the surface of Gothos . ( ) A nanopulse laser was an exotic piece of equipment owned by Andromedan android s who aided Harry Mudd in capturing the " Enterprise . " ( ) A tri - laser connector was a type of Eymorg tool used by Doctor McCoy when he reconnected Spock ' s brain in 2269 . ( ) Laser weapon s also existed , such as the advanced laser pistol s and laser cannon s used by Starfleet in the 2250s , and the high - energy X - ray laser s mounted aboard Talarian warships . ( ; ) According to Lt . Sulu in 2269 , the laser weapons the Federation possessed were a more advanced model than the laser setting of the Slaver weapon , and their laser had been more powerful for the last century . ( ) The Atlec used laser weapons on their ships and once targeted them on the " Enterprise " - D in an attempt to acquire the Straleb Jewel of Thesia and Thadiun Okona . Picard noted that such lasers would not even penetrate their navigation shields . ( ) When Chief Miles O ' Brien introduced the game of darts at Quark ' s Bar , Grill , Gaming House and Holosuite Arcade , Quark failed to understand its appeal because it did not include anything like lasers or hologram s . ( ) In the " Julian Bashir , Secret Agent " holoprogram , Hippocrates Noah deployed earthquake - causing lasers around the Earth . ( ) Pulse laser s were used as weapons by the Lysian Central Command . Like other laser devices , pulse lasers were not considered very powerful by 24th century Federation standards . ( ) The 24th century Federation belief that lasers were obsolete weapons was proved wrong in a catastrophic fashion on the Federation ' s first contact with the Borg , as the cutting beam aboard a Borg cube proved to be capable of destroying Federation starships with ease . ( ; ; ) Zefram Cochrane told Commander Riker that he had a hangover either from the whiskey he drank or because of Riker ' s laser beam , referring to the phaser he ' d been stunned with earlier . ( ) Apocrypha . The McDonald ' s video communicator comic " Votec ' s Freedom " suggests that Starfleet continued to refine laser technology into the 2270s , as Spock cuts a prisoner ' s chains with his " new ultra laser . " James Blish ' s conversion of to prose form in " Star Trek 12 " had Kirk explain to Isak that crystalline rubindium - based laser cutting torches were not weapons , as they had extremely short ranges . Since the " Star Fleet Medical Reference Manual " lists rubindium as being radioactive , laser cutting torches based upon it can also be presumed to have short useful life expectancies and therefore to be useless as weapons , as prolonged usage would quickly decrystallize the rubindium in the laser element .