are on the verge of becoming a household item. Already, they transmit millions of words over thousands of miles. They weld, mend, cut, clean delicate pieces of artwork, tailor clothes, entertain, detect potential earthquakes, scan prices at supermarket checkouts, create three-dimensional images (holograms), and simplify some surgical procedures. Lasers may also provide the next generation of Americans with clean, unlimited amounts of energy.

Lately, fact has been closing the gap on fiction in the development of so-called "death rays." By 1990, lasers capable of destroying an enemy's missiles, ships, planes, and satellites could be on line in the nation's defense systems. Detailed information is naturally classified, but defense experts expect the Pentagon to have at least one working prototype soon, perhaps as early as 1982, at the latest.

The wordthe light." At the other end of the line, those modulations are translated back into sound.

The Pentagon offers a new twist on laser communications, beaming top-secret information between, for example, an airplane and a base on pure laser beams, minus the glass fibers. The system is still in testing, but holds two distinct advantages for the military: The lasers can transmit the equivalent of the Encyclopedia Britannica in one second, and the probability of jamming or interception by an enemy ranks somewhere around nil.

Lasers are coming on hot and heavy in the military. They promise "to completely change the character of the battle-fields in the very near future," says. Lt. Gen. Donald R. Keith, deputy chief for the Army's research, development, and acquisition department at the Pentagon. Laser