Laser Communications, while not a common form of amateur communications, has technical challenges that have intrigued talented amateurs for decades.

• A Laser Communications Primer -- Part 1
  QST September 1990, pp. 19-24
  A tutorial on lasers and how they work.
  
• A Laser Communications Primer -- Part 2
  QST October 1990, pp. 22-26
  Make a laser communications system from a laser tag game.
• Lasers and Amateur Radio 
  QEX January 1985, pp. 5-10
  An introduction to lasers.
  
• Laser Communication Range 
  QST April 1989, p. 74
  Calculating the range of a laser communications system.
• A Laser Transceiver for the ARRL 10-GHz-and-Up Contest 
  QEX November/December 2001, pp.11-19
  An optical transceiver you can build to get on the 6500-A band

• Bob Gonsett, W6VR Laser QSO
  Carrying voice over a 'RED POINTER' laser beam by Bob Gonsett, W6VR
• modulatedlight.org This page deals with long-distance atmospheric (through-the-air) optical ("lightbeam") communications of various types using coherent and noncoherent light sources, methods of mitigating atmospheric effects on such communications, as well as various technologies involved in transmitting and receiving such communications.