Raygun

Rayguns are a type of directed-energy weapon. They are a classic and widespread feature of science fiction. Types of raygun have various names: ray gun, death ray, beam gun, blaster, laser gun, etc. They supply the general role of guns in the scenarios of many stories. All or most rayguns are fictional as far as now known.

See directed-energy weapon for various real weapons which are more or less like rayguns.

''See Directed-energy weapon#Mythology for energy weapons in ancient mythologies.

See Directed-energy weapon#Tesla for reports that Tesla made a real raygun or similar.

See Electrolaser for an electric current sent down a laser beam.

History

A very early example is the Heat-Ray featured in H. G. Wells' The War of the Worlds, which was published in 1898. Science fiction as far back as the 1920s emphasized death rays as the weapons of choice. Early science fiction often showed raygun beams making bright light and loud noise like lightning or large electric arcs. When the laser, invented in 1960, became industrial reality in the 1960s, the generic fictional death rays were often renamed "lasers". See Science fiction weapon. By the late 1960s and 1970s however, the laser's limits as a weapon were evident, and less specific terms such as "phaser" (see Star Trek) or "blaster" (see Star Wars) were used.

Types

The ray fired is stated in each scenario to be laser or particle beam or plasma, or some form of energy which does not exist in the real world, or is undefined.
Sometimes in science fiction stories, rayguns are used for metal cutting like blowtorches.
In some science fiction, some rayguns have a firing mode that can stun its target instead of killing.

Rayguns under their various names come in various sizes and forms: pistol; two-handed (often called a rifle); mounted on a vehicle; artillery-sized mounted on a spaceship or space base or asteroid or planet. The pistol form is seen most often.

A "beam gun" in anime is an energy weapon which fires a colored beam of light.
"FX-Ray laser" in American science-fiction and animation is a humorous name for a raygun that fires a visible beam: FX is the show biz acronym for special effects.

Many rayguns do not behave like classical lasers or particle beams:-

The beam travelling at much less than the speed of light.
The beam can be seen from off its axis, which would not happen in space where there is nothing to be illuminated by the beam.
Visible barrel recoil. This would only happen with a particle beam gun, and then only if (muzzle velocity) times (weight of particles fired) comes to a value comparable to the same for a bullet-firing gun.
The power of the beam completely evaporating a man (equipment and all) who is hit by the beam.

Rayguns are a great variety of shapes and sizes, according to the imagination of the story writers and movie prop makers. Most pistol rayguns have a conventional pistol grip and trigger, but some (e.g. some Star Trek phasers) do not. The shapes of some rayguns are influenced by an opinion that they look most effective and weapon-like if they look somewhat like real guns; others (e.g. in the image at Spaceman firing vgun.jpg) are not.

Why rayguns are not generally known to exist in the real world

There are these reasons:-

For laser guns, see Directed-energy weapon#Problems with lasers.
For plasma rifles and similar, see Plasma rifle#Unlikely in the real world
In many science fiction scenarios, the laws of physics and nature of matter and energy are different from in the real world, for example the fictional Minovsky Physics, which operate in the Gundam fictional scenario.
Many of them need non-existent materials.
With current and foreseeable technology the amount of power that they would need is beyond the capacity of any handheld device. Current real energy weapons are large and cumbersome, and real man-portable versions are barely powerful enough to be considered weapons.

Real rayguns?

Recent developments in the real world in laser guns have produced artillery-sized weapons which might be described as rayguns, but usually are not. Also see electrolaser. Real lasers can do damage: some are powerful enough to bore holes through steel.

In specific scenarios

scenario	gun name	beam type	how gun works; remarks
Aliens & its series	Colonial Marines weapons	One shoulder-carried plasma gun run off backpack powerpack. The rest are not directed-energy weapons.
AndroidOps universe	2 sorts of infrared ray gun	infrared laser
David Weber's novel Apocalypse Troll	blaster	pulse of plasma	capacitor-fed
Babylon 5	Phased plasma gun	small pulse of plasma	does not cause damage by penetration
Blake's 7	paragun	a short burst	Federation standard issue. Image here. More Federation kit images here.
Blake's 7	a pistol		Federation issue. Image here.
Captain Proton	blaster	lethal electric ray	1930-ish, made exaggerated sound & visual effects
Captain Proton	This was in a show within a show: parody within a "straight" show. In Bride of Chaotica episode of Voyager, Tom Paris made a series of holodeck adventures where he acted as Captain Proton, a 1930s style SF hero.
Doctor Who	Daleks' guns	"ruby rays"	fired from a gunstalk attached to the Dalek. Area around point of target turns negative. "Ruby" may be taken from ruby lasers.
Doom	Plasma rifle	plasma	rapid-fire plasma bolt weapon.
Doom	BFG 9000	undefined (stated as plasma in Doom 3)	deadly energy weapon using unreal physics.
Forbidden Planet	hand blasters	could kill or vaporize	crew issue
Forbidden Planet	larger blasters	could kill or vaporize	radio controlled, operated by "blastermen"
The Foundation Series (The Trilogy)	blaster	dazzling beam of high-power nuclear particles, shattered target.
The Foundation Series (The Sequels)	blaster	weaker, only disrupted men's internal organs, nearly no visible effect, only small release of power.
FreeSpace	photon beam cannons	a large devastating glowing beam that damages and destroys enemy ships.
Ghostbusters	proton pack	particle beam	long gun which runs off a backpack which contains a nuclear accelerator
Gundam	mega beam cannons	"mega particles"	"Minovsky particles". Minovsky Physics operate throughout series.
Halo 2	Particle Beam Rifle	"beam particles"	mimics the human Sniper Rifle, level of magnification is 5x to 10x.
The Hyperion Cantos	Death Wand	A laser like beam weapon which fatally disrupted the synapses of a human.	Could only be operated at close range (a few meters), had no visible or audible effects, caused no visible damage to the target. Neutrino based. All non-human life was unaffected.
Independence Day	city-destroyer ray	unspecified	not aimable
Lucky Starr	blasters	small slugs which, meeting a surface, turned a fraction of their mass into energy (method indeterminate), killing the target with minimum of external light & sound
Nemesis	Paracelsus's Sword	Massive experimental rail cannon being produced by the Umbrella Corp.	Needs unusually large batteries to fire; launches a massively offensive energy beam.
Stargate	staff weapon	plasma-bolt	2-handed like a spear.
Stargate	zat	electric shock??	Small, one-hand.
Star Trek	phaser	nadions	ranges from light stun (level 1) to full disintegration (level 16)
Star Trek	disruptor	undefined	used by Klingons. Kills.
Star Wars	blaster	various particle bursts	See blaster (Star Wars). which describes it in detail, but with unreal physics.
Star Wars	lightsaber	energy arc	used as a blade rather than a gun.
Warhammer 40k	Lasgun	laser beam	usually able to remove an unarmored human limb in a single shot.
War of the Worlds	Heat-Ray	varies by versions: see Heat-Ray	a very early example
(various)	plasma rifle	plasma	See plasma rifle, including for why they are unlikely in the real world.

Other uses of the word

Motorcycle enthusiasts sometimes use the term raygun for the old shape of motorcycle exhaust silencer/muffler with a long straight cylindrical barrel that merged roundedly at each end into the pipe, as in this image.
Ray Gun was a music magazine published during the 1990s.
A nickname for former U.S. president Ronald Reagan.

Fictional firearms | Science fiction weapons

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