Ray gun

The ray gun is the penultimate science fiction weapon. It's a rather general term, but applies to pretty much any scientifically advanced energy based weapon. May also be referred to as a laser gun or a death ray. There is hardly ever any real explanation as to the design or function of a ray gun except that they chiefly employ laser based technology. This may come in the form of short destructive bursts or steady streams of amplified light and heat. In the Star Trek multimedia franchise, such weapons are referred to as phasers. In the Star Wars multimedia franchise, they are called blasters. Old School sci-fi heroes like Buck Rogers or Flash Gordon are content with just calling them ray guns.