For info; the high-powered (>50W) devices used to create artificial guide stars for astronomy are used in consultation with aviation authorities in order to avoid risk. Pro astronomers don't wave their little torches around the sky, and the big ones would do some serious damage if you got in the way, being some 10000 times more powerful than the usual "pointer" type,
In multi-conjugate adaptive optics, up to 5 artificial guide stars are created by exciting ions in the sodium layer of the atmosphere (at about 90km) with high-powered coherent thingies. It allows systems to compensate for atmospheric turbulence when there aren't any bright enough guide stars in the telescope's field of view.