Scientists at the Pentagon have completed a round of testing on a device that enables lasers to talk.

Developed under a military initiative led by the Joint Non-Lethal Weapons Directorate (JNLWD), scientists have created a laser weapon that can broadcast intelligible fragments of human speech over long distances.

To do this, the Pentagon scientists applied a principle called the Laser Induced Plasma Effect to firing an extremely powerful laser that creates a ball of plasma. Following that, a second laser was discharged that oscillated the plasma and resulted in sound waves. Firing enough laser bursts at appropriate frequencies, the team of scientists discovered that the resulting plasma vibrations could mimic human speech.

A video of an earlier iteration of the laser weapon demonstrates the weapon beaming the warning "stop or we’ll be forced to fire upon you" onto a wall several feet away using just flashing light. Such a device could potentially enable military personnel to target messages or warnings to specific people with minimal risk to themselves.

The team of Pentagon scientists intend to develop a version of the laser that is capable of beaming intelligible messages as far as hundreds of miles away, potentially discharging orders to an assembled crowd below an aircraft or as a warning to trespassers approaching military installations.

In its most recent form, the laser is largely a communication tool. However, the team of Pentagon scientists believes that subtle variations to the weapon could make it appropriate for more aggressive crowd control scenarios. As such, the team has been simultaneously testing plasma lasers capable of burning through clothing and irritating human skin and lasers capable of pulsing at frequencies similar to flashbang grenades, which are non-lethal grenades that generate a burst of blinding light along with intense sound.

While the team intends to continue testing the laser devices, they also predict that the laser that communicates messages to specific targets could be ready in as little as five years.

To see a version of the laser in action, watch the accompanying video that appears courtesy of the Department of Defense's Joint Non-Lethal Weapons Directorate.