Laser/Legends

A laser or a laser beam, was a beam of focused light operating under similar principles as blaster weaponry. Like blaster bolts, laser beams were considered particle beams, but unlike blaster bolts which were formed from ions of gas, laser beams consisted of particles of light known as photons, which moved at the speed of light. Lasers could be fired as sustained beams or pulse-like bolts.
Lasers were utilized in laser weapons, which operated in a similar fashion as blasters. They were usually mounted on starfighters, freighters, and other small spaceships; larger warships instead used turbolasers, which provided even more destructive power, but required cumbersome generators and other equipment. Laser cannons were sometimes mounted in turreted pairs, while ships such as Trade Federation Lucrehulk-class battleships and the Millennium Falcon were equipped with quad laser cannon turrets.
Opirus Personal Lasers manufactured laser-engraving mechanisms.
The protocol droid I-5YQ was fitted with two finger lasers.
Advanced laser technology was more powerful than regular laser technology,Star Wars: Rogue Squadron III: Rebel Strike: The Official Nintendo Player's Guide and was available to upgrade attack vehicles in the time between the Invasion of NabooStar Wars: Episode I: Battle for Naboo and the Galactic Civil War.Star Wars: Rogue Squadron III: Rebel Strike
==Behind the scenes==
The real-world term laser originated as an acronym for Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation. It is the name for the device itself, not the beam it emits.
Lasers in Star Wars bear few similarities to those in real life: plasma is part of the beam's composition, and beams can interact with one another and are visible in vacuum. They explode on contact with most surfaces and sometimes with a deflector shield as well; real lasers do not cause explosions unless they heat a flammable substance to a high temperature.
As it is doubtful that lasers in Star Wars share the same principles of generation or fundamental nature as real-world lasers, the in-universe term may be a shorthand way of saying "laser-induced plasma weapon" or something similar. That is, so-called laser guns, laser cannons, and the like may operate like other blasters, but use a laser rather than a superconductor or other medium to superheat the blaster gas into plasma or energize it into charged particles.
Lasers in the Star Wars: Rogue Squadron video game series could be upgraded to advanced lasers by finding various upgrades.
==Appearances==
===Non-canon appearances===
*LEGO Star Wars: The Padawan Menace
==Sources==
==Notes and references==