Subject line "sci-fi lasers" piqued my interest so I gave it a try beginning 
from your example.

This has a soft edge by using the cylinder pattern, and to arrange the 
resulting laser I started with the cylinder object oriented and scaled to 
fit the media then rotated, scaled, translated into place. That can make it 
easier to work with the media. Watch out for any density changes during the 
resizing.

// pink phaser beam

cylinder {<0,0,0>, <0,1,0>, 1
 hollow
    texture {pigment {color rgbf 1}}
    interior {
        media {
         scattering {1, color rgb <1,0,1> extinction 0}
         emission <1,0,1>*3
         absorption <0.3,0.9,0.3>*9 // help opacity against background
            method 3
            // intervals 1 samples 4
            density {
             cylindrical
             density_map {
              [0 rgb 0]  // outer edge
              [0.5 rgb <1,1,1>]
              [1 rgb <3,3,3>] // inside
             }
            }
        }
    }
    rotate -90*z
    scale <5,0.2,0.2>
    translate <-10,10,0>
}

You might want to consider illumination effect on surroundings, and this 
having a scattering media means it'll be affected by external lighting. Alot 
depends on how you intend it to look in a scene.

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