The reason for lightsaber’s immense power stems from this plasma blade.
Plasma is an ionized gas consisting of positive ions and free electrons in proportions resulting in more or less no overall electric charge, typically at low pressures or at very high temperatures, such as those reached in the cores of stars and in nuclear fusion reactors). Interestingly this is the same plasma that can be found in plasma screen tv’s. Also of note is that Plasma is actually considered the 4th state of matter, these states being - solid, liquid, gas and plasma.
The plasma blade of the lightsaber consists of an arc of plasma. Given the high temperature of the plasma arc, lightsabers are incredibly powerful weapons and can cut through almost anything. Throughout the saga we see them cut through steel doors, stone, and just about anything else they come into contact with apart from other lightsabers, but as we all know they tend to be particularly good at cutting off limbs.
One important note about lightsaber wounds is that they rarely bleed profusely, even when a limb has been severed. This is because the energy blade cauterizes the wound, and thus even a severe wound does not tend to bleed heavily, displaying their immense heat.
The plasma blade is fundamentally linked to the crystal from which it emanates from. As Kanan Jarrus remarked to Sabine Wren: "Energy constantly flows through the crystal. You're not fighting with a simple blade as much as you are directing a current of power. Your thoughts, your actions, they become energy. They flow through the crystal as well and become a part of the blade."
So we’ve established that lightsabers are pretty badass and if you’re anything like me you’d love to own one, but how far away are we from actually owning lightsabers?
Unfortunately, the classic mechanism of the lightsaber comes with a lot of problems. In order to be able to effortlessly melt through things like steel or aliens, the plasma blade would need to have an enormous amount of energy- about 20 megawatts to melt steel – which is enough to power 14,000 households before the battery ran out. Also, the blades would pass straight through each other – cinematic lightsabers duels wouldn’t actually be a thing. So we need to look at other lightsaber configurations and designs.
Unsurprisingly, a lot of people have cheated – abandoning plasma blades for some stuff that’s slightly easier to work with. Researchers say that lasers could be used to create something vaguely similar to the famous Jedi sword. Professor Richard Muller, who is associated with the Institute for Nuclear and Particle Astrophysics, said that he doesn't actually "think it would be very hard" to make a real lightsaber. Muller backs his claim by pointing out that small accelerators that take electrons to almost the speed of light already exist. In fact, the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory where Muller works actually has such an accelerator called the BELLA.
BELLA uses lasers to accelerate the electrons. A laser could also be used to accelerate heavy ions to form the weapon part of the lightsaber, Muller said. "Heavy ions have a very limited and discrete range, and they would constitute the blade of the saber," While He also stated. "That's what I always assumed the lightsaber was, ever since I saw the original movie." Apparently what would actually be hard isn't making the lightsaber, but using it.
So we’re not there yet, but it sounds like we’re making progress towards it. Given the research being undertaken I think we can all live in hope that one day a lightsaber, or at least something closely resembling one, will be developed, we’ll just have to be patient.
And for you sceptics out there who believe we’ll never live to see and use a real life lightsaber there’s only one thing to say…….I find your lack of faith disturbing.
