Can Lasers Really Create a Functional Light Saber?

In summary, while the concept of a functional lightsaber as seen in popular media is intriguing, current technology does not allow for the creation of such a device. Lasers can produce intense beams of light, but they lack the ability to form a solid blade or contain energy in a way that would mimic a lightsaber. Various projects and prototypes have explored similar ideas, but challenges such as energy containment, safety, and practicality remain significant obstacles. Thus, a true lightsaber, as depicted in science fiction, remains unattainable with existing laser technology.
  • #1
pete94857
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TL;DR Summary
Mirco lasers, inverse square law.
I believe using the inverse square law it would be possible to produce a light saber made from lasers. By placing thousands of micro laser side by side a limited length beam could be formed but the combined energy would produce a seemingly single beam with the total energy accumulated from all the micro lasers.
 
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  • #2
That won’t make a light saber (if by that you mean something like from the movies). Arrange your lasers properly and we can get a single laser beam extending out to infinity and weakening according to the inverse square law, but that’s just a single laser done in an unnecessarily complicated and difficult way.

For a more interesting application of multiple coordinated light sources, you might try reading about how phased array radar beams are steered, and also learn about “Huygen’s wavelets” which will be the general principle behind all such arrangements of light sources.

This thread is closed, as it based on a misunderstanding.
 
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