Some simple physics calculation gives the following relationship between laser power, P, and the acceleration, a, of the vessel: P=M*a*c, where M is the vessel mass (including the thruster) and c is the speed of light in vacuum. For a vessel the mass of the Apollo 11 moon mission, or about 47,000 Kg, to reach 1 g = 9.80 m/s^2 acceleration, you would need a coninuous output of about 138 Terawatts. For comparison, the world's current most powerful laser, the NOVA laser used in fusion experiments at Laurence Livermore National Laboratory, produces about 100 TW. So there's a bit of scaling up needed, and even then, you need to figure out how to store that much energy and feed it that quickly to the laser: 138 TW * 1 week = 8.35*10^19 J, which is equivalent to about 930 Kg of mass via total conversion.
Edit: I have more detail in this entry on my Livejournal.
--The Twisted One"Welcome to Fanboy Hell. You will be spending eternity here, in a small room with Jar-Jar Binks and Dobby the house-elf."
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Edit: I have more detail in this entry on my Livejournal.
--The Twisted One"Welcome to Fanboy Hell. You will be spending eternity here, in a small room with Jar-Jar Binks and Dobby the house-elf."
"If you
wish to converse with me, define your
terms."
--Voltaire