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The Real Lightsabre

 Laser Beam Held to a Precise Length
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No, this isn't a copy of the other idea of the same (practically) name.

I have heard about how astronomers use 'guide stars' and that they aim huge lasers at them (I forget exactly what guide stars are for), so I figured, why not use this on a smaller scale? (All those against laser weaponry, do your stuff. I'm not exactly a weapons proponent myself. This just popped into my head some years ago.)

The way it works is this: take some gas that absorbs the particular wavelength the laser emits, and put it in a canister. A sufficient amount is then sprayed out and immediately the laser fires at it. The gas turns to plasma, and *would* go everywhere, but an electromagnetic field confines it and keeps it in front of the beam, and pushes the gas ball to the optimum distance, thus lengthening the beam (long enough to be useful, but not so long that the field weakens and sets the gas free). This should produce a laser beam of a fixed length, without damageable mirrors and junk.

Too bad it doesn't make the beam solid; then it'd really live up to the name.

—galukalock, Mar 13 2003

A REAL Lightsabre http://web.archive....sabre#996116509-7-1
Gone from the HB, but nothing is ever really lost in Webspace. [DrCurry, Oct 05 2004, last modified Oct 21 2004]

[For Galuckalock] Another reference point for the REAL Lightsabre http://www.halfbake...er_20Steak_20Knives
Reference to the link that [Egnor] cited. [jurist, Oct 05 2004, last modified Oct 17 2004]

Another "reallightsabre" link from Google http://reallightsabre.cjb.net/
Similar to galukalock's idea in its interest in harnessing plasma. [jurist, Oct 05 2004, last modified Oct 21 2004]

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       Hey - what happened to the old "real lightsabre" ?
—DrCurry, Mar 13 2003
   

       Any minute now I'm expecting an idea by the name of "The Real Light Sabra" to appear. It will be about Israeli-born Jewish women going on crash diets.
—jurist, Mar 13 2003
   

       And just what is magic about controlling a plasma blob with electromagnets?
—galukalock, Mar 14 2003
   

       I thought this would be some sort of balloon in the shape of a saber tooth tiger with a penlight attached.
—Worldgineer, Mar 14 2003
   

       Curry, could you describe that post?
—galukalock, Mar 14 2003
   

       [galukalock] I'm sure Curry was just referring to the fact that the title "Real Lightsabre" has appeared here several times or more in the last several years that I'm aware of, and has been modified and satirized several more times, as you can see by the link. BiffTannon had quite an abiding affection for the term "lightsabre" and it never seemed to attract the right sort of attention to his ideas, sorry to say.
—jurist, Mar 15 2003
   

       there was also a lightsabre shield kind of thing which appealed to me but only lasted a short time - shame about that
—po, Mar 15 2003
   

       All: After a bit of poking around, I found the original for you. (See revised link: much was lost when that idea went away. Sobering to contrast the level of discussion with the above, too.)
—DrCurry, Mar 15 2003
   

       Thanks, Doc. I checked out those links, too. EgZACTly what I was thinking. So I *guess* this is already half-baked.
—galukalock, Mar 15 2003
   

       The plasma blob is what keeps the laser beam (which is generated by its own battery) from going everywhere, since not many relish the idea of a sword that cuts through and burns the ceiling all through the fight. It holds the beam to a precise length, and the beam keeps it plasma-ized by continually adding energy to it. The gas used is carefully chosen to make sure is absorbs the laser energy, which allows all this.   

       As for use, it wouldn't be wise to contact the very end (with the plasma) to *any*thing, as the gas would dissipate, allowing the laser to go all over. It would be better used for hacking, slicing motions. I originally envisagioned this as a bread slicer/toaster.
—galukalock, May 27 2003
   

       Hey, there's nothing wrong with hacking and slicing. But the whole idea still sounds a little unstable. If there was a way to keep the plasma from dissipating, though, this would be perfect.
—red_ensign_chris, Jan 24 2004
   

       In a book I picked up and put down in a bookstore on "Star Wars" technology it described light sabers as both the simplest and most complicated, nearly-impossible technology on display, and that is including the space drives. Plasma in a magnetic field. Sorta like a Penning trap with one end half-uncorked...
—cloudface, Jan 24 2004
   

       Another IDEA for a Real Light Saber:   

       As at the web page http://jnaudin.free.fr/vpexp/ you will find out that toroidal coils are able to be used to push electricity along a pole.   

       Well my idea is to put electrodes across the face of the toroidal coils and pump very high voltage across the gap/centre/face of the coils with the result that the toroidal coils will push this electric arc out and away from the face. This could be used to create a Real Light Saber! And of course a nob could control the length of the saber by making adjustments to the toroidal coils so that the ION push can be controlled and therefor adjusts length.
—xutehan, Jun 15 2008
   


 

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