Re: Lasers and amplification (EN-FR)

Lucas Moreno a écrit:
>  
> I am having trouble with two tecnhical words in a fiction text...
> 
> Context : In the 60's, a few years after the first American satellite was
> sent to space, a character (a marine being in the enemy's heartland) says he
> wished he had "one of those new "laser" (he uses quotation marks)
> communicators" in order to tell the men in the satellite how things are
> going "down here". But he doesn't have one of those things because "the
> light amplification devices were so secret, the Chiefs refused to let any be
> taken into the enemy's heartland."
> 
> Questions: what is a "laser" communicator?

That would be a device used to communicate information over a distance
using some form of "laser" technology.

> How can I translate it without
> being out of the historical context (1960)?

I am afraid you might have to invent an expression.  Appareils de
communication (au) "laser" ?  Communicateurs (au) "laser" ? 
Télécommunicateurs (au) "laser" ?  "Lasers" de communication ?

> Here, it seems "light
> amplification devices" is synonym of "laser communicator", but it just
> doesn't sound the same to me...

I would understand "l.a. devices" as a broader expression, describing
any type of devices that may make use of "l.a." technology, and "laser
communicator" as a narrower expression, describing one specific type of
l.a. device.

-- 
Jean