They were described in the very first Star Wars film in 1977 as “an elegant weapon of a more civilized age.”
Since then, fans have dreamed of owning a real lightsaber: the colorful weapon that can effortlessly cut through flesh or metal.
Despite some impressive efforts by engineers, the quest to create a version identical to the one in the films seems beyond the reach of reality.
One scientist thinks it might be possible, and has revealed his step-by-step guide to making a lightsaber.
Dr. However, Alex Baker, a chemist at the University of Warwick, warned MailOnline that the ‘superheated stick of fiery death’ could be too dangerous for the public to get their hands on.
Inside the handle, a battery at the bottom would pass electrical energy to a laser that would produce light energy, which would in turn be focused by a crystal to ionize the gas to create the plasma.
The blade of a lightsaber is made of ‘plasma’, the fourth state of matter after solid, liquid and gas.
According to Dr. Baker would extract an actual lightsaber gas from the surrounding air, which could ionize it into plasma.
Plasma is an ionized gas, meaning its atoms or molecules are not neutral but instead carry an electrical charge.
It can also be fired into straight beams at very high temperatures, allowing it to cut through steel.
YouTubers have already tried to make their own plasma lightsabers, including Russian Alex Burkan who made the world’s first retractable lightsabers in 2022.
However, his creation looks nothing like the movies and the blade only fires for 30 seconds.
Meanwhile, Canadian James Hobson created his own version with a longer-lasting blade, but that’s only because it got its power source from an attached backpack.
‘People have created devices that create a straight plasma beam that eventually cools and deionises back into a gas,’ Dr Baker told MailOnline.
‘The length of the blade is limited by how far they can spit a plasma beam – that is, how far you can fire an ionized gas before it cools and the electrons recombine with their ions.’
The problem is that plasma tends to disappear when not in a magnetic field, which would cause the blade to disappear shortly after the lightsaber is turned on.
Russian YouTuber Alex Burkan created the world’s first retractable lightsaber in 2022. The blade can cut through steel, but it only works for 30 seconds and doesn’t look much like the perfectly straight color beam like in the movies
Plasma is a stream of highly irrigated particles, so Burkan’s lightsaber can also attract lightning and other high-voltage charges
In fact, if they didn’t have a magnetic field, two blades would just pass through each other instead of crashing into each other like in the movies.
Dr. Baker says this all-important magnetic field could potentially be emitted by a long, thin metal rod with an electric current running through it.
If formed correctly, the magnetic field can hold a ‘loop’ of plasma in place, but the rod would have to run the entire length of the blade.
This metal rod could be made retractable so that it doesn’t just stick out of the handle when the weapon is disarmed.
Dr. Baker calls the metal rod “a huge ‘copout’ because it’s not part of the lightsabers in the films — but things insist a saber would be needed to work.”
“The problem is that you can’t simply project a magnetic field into the desired shape without the rod solution,” he said.
“That’s why in Star Wars the force solves this problem.”
Since the plasma knife would likely be several thousand degrees Celsius, the handle would also have to be made of an ‘excellent thermal insulator’ and resistant to damage – perhaps ceramic coated with yttrium oxide.
In the original Star Wars films, Luke Skywalker (pictured) had blue and green lightsabers, while his nemesis Darth Vader had a red lightsaber
Heat sinks made of diamond in the handle can also help dissipate heat.
As for the original energy source, Dr. Baker admits that a lightsaber “definitely needs something better than an AA battery” to keep the plasma and magnetic field going.
“We don’t currently have the technology to do this, but as batteries improve, who knows, it might one day be possible,” he added.
In the original Star Wars films, Luke Skywalker had blue and green lightsabers, while his nemesis Darth Vader had a red lightsaber.
In the prequel trilogy, Mace Windu, played by Samuel L Jackson, had a purple lightsaber, reportedly at the actor’s request.
Since lightsabers must draw gas from the surrounding atmosphere to turn into plasma, the color of the lightsaber depends on the planet you’re on.
Since Earth’s atmosphere is mostly nitrogen, all lightsabers on Earth would be Obi-Wan Kenobi-style blue.
“If you want a specific color, you can bake salts like sodium chloride into it, like in a flame test at school,” the chemist added.
According to Star Wars fan literature, a lightsaber hilt contains a “kyber crystal,” capable of concentrating and amplifying energy.
In the Star Wars films, a lightsaber’s magnetic field allows them to bounce off each other, as if they were made of solid material.
Although a fictional object, it would likely require some sort of crystal to focus a laser beam to help improve the ionization of the gas.
Could lightsabers exist in this galaxy? Dr. Baker says yes, although there is still a lot of “cool science” to be developed.
“Right now the biggest problems are how to ensure that your plasma has enough energy to produce it and the magnetic field you need to contain it, plus materials that can withstand the plasma’s heat,” he said.
“Does this mean we won’t achieve it? No, scientists have a funny way of turning science fiction into fact.’
Realistically, a lightsaber exactly like the ones in the movies will last about 30 years, he added — although “a superheated stick of fiery death” is “probably a little too dangerous, so we probably don’t need them.”
Lightsabers are also said to be “incredibly energy inefficient compared to a firearm.”