Photoarms

Formal name for laser weapons, which use focused light to damage targets by concentrating heat on a small point.
The successor to the firearm, photoarms have been a mainstay of human combat since before the Solar Age.
Many other species use them as well, especially those whose evolutionary histories have not given them the instincts to aim ballistic kinetic weapons.
Large lasers are also carried aboard warships as weapons.

Construction

Photoarms require a power source of high energy density, in the past a battery and now a superconducting power coil. Early photoarms generated their beams with interior equipment and focused it through a lens. While this is still seen in cheap models, most modern photoarms use flat phased-array emitters requiring much less space. Thus depending on the type a photoarm will either have a curved lens of glass on the front or a flat polished surface.

Access & Availability

Ubiquitous, where personal weapons ownership is allowed