In September 2007, the BBC News reported that there was speculation about the possibility of using positronium annihilation to drive a very powerful gamma ray laser.[20] Dr. David Cassidy of the University of California, Riverside proposed that a single such laser could be used to ignite a nuclear fusion reaction, replacing the hundreds of lasers used in typical inertial confinement fusion experiments.[20]
Space-based X-ray lasers pumped by a nuclear explosion have also been proposed as antimissile weapons.[21][22] Such devices would be one-shot weapons.