Several projects related to interstellar travel have been proposed, like interstellar travel with miniature light sail starships , or the Breakthrough Starshot project
Question. Could a laser array and miniature light sails be used to deflect asteroids that are on a collision path with Earth?
Since the miniature light sails could reach high speeds (and collide with the asteroid) , could a large number of these miniature light sails be used to deflect dangerous asteroids, even large ones ?
How efficient would such a deflection system be, in comparison with other methods?
Edit. These notes have been added later.
Due to the answer, comments and feedback from PcMan, Cornelis and uhoh it seems to me that with current technology the only feasible way to deflect asteroids is to build a laser array around Earth (probably powered by the Sun ) that would carry Davy Crockett devices with light sails to far away dangerous asteroids on a possible collision path with Earth. The nuclear blasts in the vicinity of the asteroid (similar to a laser burn ) should efficiently deflect it. If the temporal consciousness of humankind is limited to decades then this is irrelevant and a waste of money. If it spans centuries or millennia then there is nothing more important than protecting life on Earth against complete obliteration (the real odds for that time span are at least 50/50). With current technology that's the only way. Funny thing, no space agency on Earth (whether American, Russian, Chinese, Indian or European) currently has sufficient (or any ) funds allocated to this kind of research. Real defender "Starlink' project, anybody?