How far are we from creating lightsabers?

Almost every one of us will agree that lightsabers are awesome. But, we haven't seen even a single thing that's got close to lightsabers. The closest thing we have to lightsabers are lasers. But, lasers simply don't give the look and feel of lightsabers. We cannot see the laser beams and can't contain them to a specific length, either. So, how far are we from creating real lightsabers?

Now, we need to realize that there are no specific scientific endeavors focused on making lightsabers except for some physicists who are Star War fans. These are the few characteristics that a lightsaber should have:

1)High temperatures

2)Power and portability

3)Shape and color

4)Really cool sound effects

5)The ability to allow the user to duel.

We have three options for this.

Using lasers

Actual photons

Plasma

Considering these points, lasers simply don't stand a chance as the eligible candidate for an alternative to lightsabers. I am talking about alternatives because we don't have Kyber crystals like in the Star Wars film. Lasers can achieve large temperatures and even cut through metals, but they can't be contained and the beam is not visible. Also, two laser beams won't clash into each other like lightsabers do. If we were to contain a laser beam to a specific length, we would need mirrors. So, we can use a contraption consisting of a mirror attached to a retractable metal rod. In that case, the light beam would be contained, but we won't be able to cut through metals using that. In a duel, it would be the metal rods that would crash into each other rather than the actual beam. So, what other options do we have?

The second option is using actual photons. Researchers at Harvard and MIT have found out that it is possible to make photons behave like molecules as they move through ultra-cold Rubidium molecules. This could be done to two or three photons but if we are able to somehow do this for millions of photons, we could actually create a beam of such 'Photonic Molecules'. These photonic molecules are very difficult to make and require precise conditions for their generation and existence. Besides, we do not have such high-energy batteries to power these types of instruments and make them portable. Besides, you need to maintain a vacuum to sustain this state of photons.

Now, our third option is using plasma. Plasma is the fourth state of matter. Plasma is generated when you heat a gas so much that the electrons in the atoms are ripped apart and you get a mixture of nucleus and electrons. The sun is basically a huge ball of plasma. Plasma can reach temperatures high enough to cut through metals. So, it satisfies the condition of achieving high temperatures. Plasma is also visible as a beam and also has a distinctive color. The color of plasma can be changed by using different gases. But, containing plasma is difficult. It takes really strong magnetic fields to contain a beam of plasma. This problem is faced by tokamaks, too. Tokamaks are the plasma containing donut-shaped structures integrated into a nuclear fusion reactor. The trouble has to do with the fact that plasma is made up of charged particles. Moving charged particles have their own magnetic fields and this field interacts with the magnetic field of the containment. It is really difficult to maintain a stable interaction between these two fields. Using plasma possesses another problem that is portability. The smallest tokamaks available are still so large that humans can walk through them. So, we need to miniaturize these devices to handheld devices. Besides that, we need to insulate ourselves from the heat that these lightsabers would generate.

That being said, is there no way we can make lightsabers? Well, there are attempts to make something just like a lightsaber but not using any kind of light. It's called a protosaber. This device looks very much similar to a lightsaber but it uses a burner instead of any light source. This makes it much easier to maintain the beam. The protosaber can easily cut through metal. The fuel is stored in a backpack and is burnt using a Bunsen burner.

So, looks like we are still pretty much far away from creating lightsabers. But, let's not lose hope as technology is advancing fast and with the new discoveries of antimatter and such stuff, maybe there would be real lightsaber in future.

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