Paper pay-walls are only a problem if you want to access stuff from home. Most universities offer access to all relevant sources in their networks or libraries. And most stuff that does not exist in electronic form and is not present in the library can be accessed through interlibrary loan.
It can be an issue for the libraries themselves. Every once in a while you hear about them dropping certain overpriced journal subscriptions. Sometimes it's part of a boycott, sometimes it's purely for budget reasons. A lot of smaller colleges and universities can't justify the cost of journals that charge an arm and a leg while only being marginally useful.
Obviously big research universities need to have access to as many journals as possible for their research community (you'd be surprised how far afield some articles can end up), but those with less research focus can drop a great many of their subscriptions without too much harm.
As for the perfect mirrors, sounds very constrained in wavelength and angle. Still incredibly cool.
However, DWC, no. Light does have momentum as any other electromagnetic wave. And all objects have both wave and particle behaviour. You can create elements of the laser effect (the spatial coherence at least) with any bosonic matter, including (in limited ways) certain atoms. Lasers in a exact sense can and do exist all across the electromagnetic spectrum. Hell, masers (microwave lasers) pre-date optical lasers. I've used X-ray lasers, and IR lasers are incredibly common.