Honestly, I know nothing about Sodium Rockets. Hence, anything I say on the subject is likely to be wrong.

I realize that such things would be highly impractical, but in all honesty, lasers themselves are highly impractical weaponry. Using any kind of armour capable of refracting the beam, and/or absorbing the heat, they become useless. Even now we can create ceramics that can withstand heat up to 12000 degrees Celcius. 

The only real advantage to a laser is that it's instant, which is why they're used to intercept missiles and bombs. They're not REALLY instant, but the speed of light is so great that, for all intents and purposes, it's instant. But as a handheld weapon it's simply not nearly as practical as ballistics.

Assuming we could create a handheld powersource that could power a laser strong enough to deal good damage, it would still be far less efficient than a railgun, or even more advanced ballistic weaponry. 

Mainly what I'm trying to achieve here is Star Wars style lasers because they look cool.And lasers going snap crackle pop is far less cool. When I hear snap crackle pop I think of breakfast cereal, not lasers.

Oh well, it's sci-fi, so realism is optional >.>