They were famously described as ‘an elegant weapon of a more civilized age’ in the first ever Star Wars film back in 1977.
Ever since then, fans have dreamed of owning a real life lightsaber – the colourful weapon that can effortlessly cut through flesh or metal.
Despite some impressive attempts by engineers, the quest to create a version that’s identical to the ones in the movies may seem outside the realm of reality.
One scientist thinks it may actually be possible, and has revealed his step-by-step guide to creating a lightsaber.
However, Dr Alex Baker, a chemist at the University of Warwick, warned MailOnline that the ‘superheated stick of fiery death’ may be too dangerous for members of the public to get their hands on.
Inside the handle, a battery near the bottom would pass electrical energy to a laser that would make light energy, which in turn would be focused by a crystal to ionise the gas to make 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, a real lightsaber would take gas from the surrounding air, which it could ionise to become plasma.
Plasma is an ionised gas, meaning its atoms or molecules are not neutral, but instead carry an electrical charge.
It can also be fired out in straight beams at very high temperatures, allowing it to cut through steel.
YouTubers have already tried to make their own plasma lightsabers, including Russia‘s Alex Burkan who made the world’s first retractable one in 2022.
However, his creation doesn’t look at all like the films and the blade only fires for 30 seconds.
Meanwhile, Canada‘s James Hobson created his own version with a longer-lasting blade, but that’s only because it got its power source from a connected backpack.
‘People have made devices that make a straight jet of plasma that eventually cools and deionises back to gas,’ Dr Baker told MailOnline.
‘The blade length is limited by how far they can spew out a jet of plasma – i.e. how far can you fire an ionised gas before it cools and the electrons recombine with their ions.’
The problem is that plasma tends to dissipate if it isn’t contained in a magnetic field, so the blade would disappear shortly after the lightsaber is switched on.
Russian YouTuber Alex Burkan made the world’s first retractable lightsaber in 2022. The blade has the ability to cut through steel, but it works for only 30 seconds and doesn’t look much like the perfectly straight jet of colour like in the movies
Plasma is a stream of high ironized particles – so Burkan’s lightsaber could also attract lightning and other high voltage charges
What’s more, if they didn’t have a magnetic field, two blades would just pass through each other instead of clashing against 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 shaped correctly, the magnetic field could hold in place a ‘loop’ of plasma, but the rod would have to run the length of the blade.
This metal rod could be made retractable so it wouldn’t just stick out of the handle when the weapon is switched off.
Dr Baker calls the metal rod ‘a massive’ copout’ because it’s not part of the lightsabers in the films – but things stand it would be needed for a saber to work.
‘The problem is you can’t just project a magnetic field of the shape we want without the rod workaround,’ he said.
‘That is why in Star Wars the force solves this problem.’
Meanwhile, because the plasma blade would probably be several thousand degrees Celsius, so the handle would also have to be made out of an ‘excellent thermal insulator’ and resistant to damage – perhaps ceramics coated in 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 out of diamond inside the handle may also help dissipate heat.
In terms of the initial power source, Dr Baker admits a lightsaber would ‘definitely need something better than a AA battery’ to keep the plasma and the magnetic field going.
‘We don’t currently have the technology to do this but as batteries improve, who knows maybe one day it will 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, allegedly at the actor’s request.
Because lightsabers need to take gas from the surrounding atmosphere to turn into plasma, the colour of the lightsaber would depend on the planet you’re on.
Seeing as Earth’s atmosphere is predominantly made of nitrogen, all lightsabers on Earth would be an Obi-Wan Kenobi-style blue.
‘If you wanted a specific colour you could fire salts like sodium chloride into it like a flame test in school,’ the chemist added.
According to Star Wars fan literature, a lightsaber handle contains a ‘kyber crystal’, capable of focusing and amplifying energy.
In the Star Wars films, this magnetic field of a lightsaber supposedly enables them bounce of each other, as if made of a solid
Although a fictional object, some kind of crystal would probably be needed to focus a laser beam to help improve the ionisation of the gas.
So could lightsabers exist in this galaxy? Dr Baker says yes, although a lot of ‘cool science’ would still need to be developed.
‘At the moment the biggest problems are how you would maintain your plasma both having enough energy to produce it and the magnetic field you would need to contain it, plus having materials for a hilt that could resist the plasma’s heat,’ he said.
‘Does this mean that we won’t achieve it? No, scientists have a funny way of making science fiction science fact.’
Realistically, a lightsaber exactly like the ones in the films is around 30 years away, he added – although ‘a superheated stick of fiery death’ is ‘probably a bit too dangerous so we probably don’t need them’.
Lightsabers would also be ‘incredibly inefficient energy-wise versus a fire-arm’.
