"Turbolasers" are the term used for heavy non-solid artillery weapons utilized by the Galactic Empire. Despite the somewhat misleading name, turbolaser technology actually has little to do with lasers. The technology applied in turbolasers spans many different classes of beam weapons from the heavy cannons aboard Star Destroyers, to the common blaster rifle.

The heart and lifeblood of turbolaser technology is an exotic gas known as Tibanna. It is a naturally occurring compound usually forged in the deeper layers of some gas giants. Unrefined Tibanna is gaseous at temperatures above 144.32 Kelvin and solidifies at approximately 2.35 Kelvin, but no sample of Tibanna has ever been cooled below 10 Kelvin. It is theorized that a pure and refined sample of Tibanna would begin to crystallize at temperature extremes below 5.92 Kelvin, but this has not been proven.

Elemental gases such as pure argon or hydrogen only absorb light energy at 26% or 32% efficiency, respectively, and most gaseous compounds do not absorb at efficiencies exceeding 5%. However, Tibanna's basic molecular shape allows it to absorb photon energy at approximately 52.5% efficiency, an unprecedented amount in energy-particle interaction.

This form of raw Tibanna will gradually rise toward the middle layers, where it comes in contact with a thin neutron belt. These neutrons are usually free-floating subatomic particles condensed in a layer less than 1.0x10^(-12) inches thick, released from the violent collision of heavier metal atoms in the layers below. These free-floating neutrons spin in immense vortex's at speeds nearing .05% of c. The hydrogen atoms of the Tibanna molecule collide with these free neutrons, creating Deuterium and Tritium isotopes. Most often, these Tibanna molecules are destroyed by the collision, and dissipate either into smaller gas molecules, or some of the atoms are hit so that they transmutate into heavier elements and pull the molecule back toward the heart of the gas giant.

However, a small amount (less than 1%) of the raw Tibanna retains atomic cohesion and gains one atom of deuterium and three atoms of tritium, while losing one carbon and one nitrogen atom. This process is known as spin-stabilization, and produces refined Tibanna. Experimentation with artificial spin-stabilization techniques (Left) consistently produce inferior results, thus naturally spin-stabilized Tibanna gas is highly prized. Compared with advanced space weaponry, traditional lasers are neither reliable, efficient, or particularly effective against anything except a target of known composition. Photons can carry a great amount of energy and travel at un-anticipateable speeds, but behave in a widely varying amount of ways depending on the type of matter they come in contact with. The most amusing example of this comes from space battles of millennia past, where it was said that the Old Republic's laser weaponry actually reflected off of an enemy vessel's hull and hit the ship it originated from. Other, less embarrassing failures happened when lasers would simply pass through an enemy ship, like glass, without causing any damage, or would barely heat up parts of an enemy hull before the cold of space quickly prevented any serious ill effects.

Particles with a discernable mass, however, like protons, neutrons, and electrons, are not nearly so fickle; the range of damage that these types of energy-carriers cause is much more predictable, but comes at the price of efficiency. Photons are 100% efficient energy carriers, a claim that no other known particle or substance can make. Imperial turbolaser technology takes advantage of this by using intense focused lasers to energize compact pockets of Tibanna (Below left) until the weak molecular bonds of the gas break down at 4,000 Kelvin. Once that occurs, a second beam of photons is introduced that excites the free molecules to over 10,000 Kelvin, at which time the electrons on the individual atoms break away and the gas becomes plasma.

These pockets of plasma are retained in a small magnetic bottle at the base of the turbolaser barrel (Above middle and above left), until the moment the weapon discharges. When it does, the magnetic seal at the mouth of the containment chamber is released, and a ring pulse guides and accelerates the excited atoms along the barrel and out of the apparatus (Below left). The visible effect is a condensed bolt of green glowing plasma (Below right), directed at high velocities (anywhere up to .25c) toward a target. Less refined or impure Tibanna will yield different color bolts ranging anywhere from red to blue to green.

As the plasma bolt travels through space, it is accompanied by a beam of invisible electrons that propagate along the bolt's desired trajectory at the speed of light. These electrons are generated at the mouth of the turret and "spin" around the path of the plasma bolt, creating an electromagnetic tube which helps to focus the packet and keep it from dispersing over long distances. Without this "electron jacket," the turbolaser bolt quickly dissipates into harmless gas, and it is this jacket which ray shielding works to counteract. Often, when a turbolaser impacts a vessel, it is this electromagnetic field which exerts a sizeable force on a target, resulting in a distinct impact sensation compared to a physical collision. Turbolasers can also be used for "flak" bursts, by purposely closing and then terminating the confinement beam before the bolt hits a target.

Blasters operate on a similar principle to turbolasers, but only heat up the Tibanna to 4,500 Kelvin using a power cell instead of a laser; higher temperatures would be harder to control and require a larger magnetic shielding apparatus.

Because of the nature of turbolaser weapons, tremendous amounts of excess heat are often generated and require cryosystems for cooling purposes. Failure of these systems can cause an emplacement to quickly overheat and explode. A diagram of a typical turbolaser emplacement can be seen at the left. This configuration can vary widely between different manufacturers and classes of emplacements. Light turbolasers typically sport no armor plating, and an integrated fire control system at the base of the turret. Other emplacements may be totally computerized, but this is uncommon. As far as StarFleet captains were concerned, what turbolasers lacked in accuracy or finesse, they more than made up for in brute power. These plasma weapons, among the most common artillery used within the Galactic Empire, are capable of concentrating high amounts of energy across a relatively small area, making it difficult for starship shields to appropriately compensate. As multiple turbolaser bolts impacted the shields of Federation starships, they would put a large strain on one or two of the vessel's shield generators, often causing local power overloads and drilling holes in the vessel's shield bubble.

It was for this reason that StarFleet weapons engineers fielded and standardized plasma dissipation shields, which helped to spread the energy of turbolaser impacts over large areas of a starship's shields, making the defense screens more effective in combat situations.