Can the light saber be made?

Clearly, the lightsabre is not solely a laser based weapon, but relies instead on the confinement of a plasma by a shaped magnetic field. When the light sabre is fired up, a shaped magnetic field is projected from its end and a small amount of plasma (charged particles such as hydrogen nuclei, i.e. protons) is jettisoned into the containment field. A pulsed laser is then used to heat the plasma until it glows white hot and then to maintain the temperature by periodic pulses. When the light sabre is run down, the pulsed laser switches off, the magnetic field switches off, and the plasma dissipates in the air.

The technology this weapon relies on is the ability to shape a magnetic containment field into a beam shape, a powerful pulsed laser that fits in a light sabre handle, magnetized fuel cartridges of compressed plasma and a power source to power all this, that also fits in the handle. 117 patents have been registered to cover this work.

A newer verson of the weapon is currently under development. This does not rely on stored plasma, but can run on standard hydrogen. The pulsed laser is used to super heat a "packet" of hydrogen in a vacuum chamber in the handle - this strips all the electrons off the hydrogen nuclei forming a super hot plasma, which is then jettisoned from the handle into the magnetic containment field.

This approach reduces the power requirements of the weapon, since there is no longer a need to maintain a magnetic field within the fuel cartridges. This also reduces the complexity of refuelling the weapon, which no longer needs to be refuelled directly, but can rely on removable unpowered (inert) fuel cartridges. This also allows spares to be carried.

Another area of improvement considered, is the ability to retrieve the plasma back into the weapon when it is run down. This could further lengthen the life of the fuel cartridges. The problem has been the storage of this plasma which has caused significant overheating issues that we have not been able to overcome. This also puts extra strain on the internal power unit that would need to maintain a magnetic containment field to hold the plasma, as the current version does in the fuel cartridges, thus offsetting the saving on moving to inert fuel cartridges. We have therefore discontinued this approach, for now. If we can overcome the initial heating issues, we may attempt to rapidly cool the plasma back into a gas and restore it in the fuel cartridges, however a solution to this is some way off.

For further information please see our commercial in Janes Defence Weekly.

Darius Collins
Sabre Weapons Systems

It wont be any laser beam at all. Laser light travels indefinately, and the only way to prevent that is to have something on the other end of the emitting point stopping it or reflecting it.

It would consist of a plasma charge, several times the temperature of the surface of the sun. Constrained by a magnetic field operating at a frequency and power level that keeps the plasma charge consistant along the intended containment field length.

So the power requirement not only has to produce the plasma charge, but also the containment field. Not easy considering it can be done but requires a warehouse sized lab and power that would dim all the lights in a city the size of LA.

Plasma sabre is the correct technical name for it. Light sabre is only GL's Hollywood name for it.

Plasma is too labor intensive, go with a more EMF reactive particle and then you have your light saber.

p.s. there is already another thread about this exact same subject.

[edit on 23-12-2008 by Tenzin]

reply to post by Kruel

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Or possibly a spherical forcefield torqued into a monomolecular cylinder.
Just 'cause it could.

Cheers

Hmmm... time to reinject some life into this thread! (hopefully)


I first tried to solve this problem many years ago in childhood I once thought I had come up with a feasable solution which was:

one sided mirrors, I thought as light could pass through one side not the other you could bounce a laser infinately between two mirrors (the bottom being one sided) forever increasing in intensity.



However these days, I think the design of a light based weapon would be more akin to a fusion generator with exposed lasers - the main problems being:
1) the time you could sustain the reaction
2) the source of the initial energy

anyway, basic design would have a central telescoping tube with a parabolic disk mirror at the top (wider than the tube) and multiple (though probably not continuos lasers around the tube) - giving it a nice swing feel, but no stab ability

These lasers would be reflected back to a gold plate creating x-rays which would then be used to condense a deutrium/tritrium containing sphere (crystal) - creating power of an approximate order of 10 times the input power, hopefully allowing the laser to be sustained for 10 times the initial power input through some means of harnessing the energy and storage
(maybe initially you could plug another charged battery onto the end to provide the required starting power)

also the handle would require a near perfect insulator as containing a (minute) sun could proove to be a challange, and the weapon would require refeuling after each use (both a new crystal and initialising battery)

Much of this based on the technology being developed for nuclear fusion
news.bbc.co.uk...

Just stay away from mirrors!!



Another area I would consider investigating would be electron guns and... plasma (as we all suggested)
Electrons have a mass, therby providing something for the other sabers to contact. though obvious problems such as creating a near vacuum with gas corresponding to the desired colour in the appropriate location without an external shielding glass tube - again I'm thinking a central telescoping tube connecting cathode and anode, with vents (providing your gas and expelling nearby air) and suction (to recollect the gas for further use, and hopefully lower the pressure around the saber itself) would have to be implemented.

again this would provide a swing feel with the anode end being weighted appropriately, but no real stab ability

Just stay away from magnets!!



Not that it would be much use, but what better icon to show yesteryears products of imagination, are todays products of reality!

Here's to hoping one day (before George Lucas passes) the lightsaber in some functional form is created!

agree exactly amazing and true statement
we have the power to create anything we imagine thru time
the possibilities we have are endless

I was going to agree that there was no way to contain it, but then i read that long post and I can't beilive i didn't think of a magnetic field. i feel so stupid.

[edit on 9-5-2009 by netrichie]

Read and weep for all you lightsaber skeptics out there!
It could be possible to use ACTUAL LIGHT in a lightsaber that doesn't use mirrors on the outside or anything!

Check it out, SOLID LIGHT! uninews.unimelb.edu.au...

If this can be done in free air or in a vacuum, it might be possible to arrange the "light crystals" in a sword shape. It even has repulsion. This technology has so many applications beyond quantum computers.

BTW: Beam katanas from "No More Heroes" are way more awesome than lightsabers.

That is my thoughts also. A magnetic containment field would hold the plasma in place and still be able to make contact.

nope, def not possable. because how would they get the light to travel to a certin length then stop

I am a physicist who has put in some thought to this problem (I have a young son who keeps me on my toes) and I think that it could be done. The basic idea is to create a number of slighly out of phase, slightly different wavelengths, and slightly different starting points in the handle, light beams that would essentially destructively interfere at whatever distance you decided was a reasonable length for your sabre. No question that it would be a large and complex sesign process, and one certainly could question why would you want to do it (although there would be some very interesting other more practical uses for a very powerful energy beam with a well defined range), but I do think it could be done.

hay i've had an idea for about 3 years now i am 15 i have copyrighted my idea. so now i will tell you.

this light saber plan has a hiccup one it will be a plasma saber
the power sorce will be a fusion reactor (size of a credit card) contained in a eletro-magnetic bubble(the u.s. military has already built ) the power will be distributed by tesla's life work. there will be 2 generator's: a (hot) plasma generator and a eletro-magnetic bubble generator. and this will create a 1 bladed plasma saber a 2 bladed plasma saber will share the same power gen. mentioned above and have 2 set's of the other 2 gen. listed above any Q's

the way to change the length of the blade? you simply have to tone it down with the on-off button (no really the 0-1 button is a toggle switch that will make the blade longer or shorter. ok??

and you would be able to do every thing thay do in star wars




[edit on 21-10-2009 by leedad007]