Lightsaber Design?

[Wolfman29]

Hey there, been thinking about this one for a while, but I never thought we had the power to make a "powerful" beam until now.

Theoretically, couldn't we make a weak lightsaber?

Check out my design:

Basically, what I figure is, we could use a two-way mirror to allow light to exit the LD and enter the parallel mirrors (would have to be well measured to prevent killing the beam from escaping too early).

Now, obviously, the divergence of the beam would let the light escape eventually, but that is good, because after enough trips back and forth (if we used a 1m "beam length", and 0.5mRad beam divergence, then after about 50 trips back and forth, the beam would be 5cm larger, making it escape the mirror setup that I am using in this hypothetical scenario), it would escape the parallel mirrors, thus preventing the mirrors themselves from overheating, etc.

Now, would this work? I am not sure how well the two-way-mirror idea would work, but maybe we could shoot off the beam at a 90 degree angle at the top using a 45 degree mirror placement, but then how do we adjust the beam so it is parallel with the LD again?

Anyway, what do ya'll think? If I can get a theoretical plan worked out, I will eventually build it =p

EDIT:

Or maybe I could just angle the mirror slightly away from parallel so there will be a slightly askew beam (not noticeable, though) such that the beam avoided the LD but stuck a mirror near it.

 

[Seoul_lasers]

hmm. Using a 445nm laser diode is FAR too dangerous for building something to be used as a prop. The idea with a light saber is tapered illumination.

a) Dangerous for people not wearing laser protection glasses.
b) You will get a far better effect by using a LED than a laser without quite as much eye hazard. The Seoul P7 emitter is 900lumens!
c) You need a polycarbonate rod to make the saber effect. Check this page out.
Search

 

[jnhowett]

Lightsabers would be the ultimate engioneering achievement. I have always thought about how to build one and every thought always had a glitch that through off the whole design. Yours is positioning your mirrors and also holding them in place.

No matter how impossible I still want one.

 

[Seoul_lasers]

yes, indeed making a REAL light saber is quite impossible.

Using a 1W diode laser to make a prop is not a wise idea.

 

[Lumin]

Lightsaber's totally possible... how much power/volume (is it volume?) do you need to "burn" air?
The way I see it you just have to make a focal point oscillate real fast between right in front of the device to say a meter out... If it vibrates back and forth fast enough it'll make the light, feel and (maybe?) even the sound.
Play with the optics a bit and you have something that you can cut through steel with and still put your hand in front of, I'm guessing... (please don't actually try this)

Hmm, someone wanna lend me a really powerful laser for a couple days? : )

silly side note for those jedis out there,
And with brinwave monitors these days you can even make it oscillate varying distances based on alpha wave activity! ooo feel the force

 

[Wolfman29]

The idea isn't to make a prop lightsaber - the idea is to make a legitimately working, cutting, lightsaber. Of course, there would need to be extreme safety precautions taken when in operation, but the idea is generally to be able to make a one-sided blade (because the other side would support the mirrors) and be able to "slice" through things like paper or tape, etc. Of course, this wouldn't be capable of cutting through a person, but that is not the point - I want to be able to make something that could cut through, say, black paper with a swing.

Anyway, the only problem I see right now is the positioning of the mirrors....

Is there a way that I could make a beam run between two parallel mirrors, *without entering the diode*?

 

[anselm]

Step 1 is the most important.

Seriously though?
I could imagine making a 10cm laser knife with your idea,
but any old fashioned steel blade would do the job 1000x better.

 

[Krogith]

ROFL @anselm, awesome man... that was awesomely done....

The idea isn't to make a prop lightsaber - the idea is to make a legitimately working, cutting, lightsaber. Of course, there would need to be extreme safety precautions taken when in operation, but the idea is generally to be able to make a one-sided blade (because the other side would support the mirrors) and be able to "slice" through things like paper or tape, etc. Of course, this wouldn't be capable of cutting through a person, but that is not the point - I want to be able to make something that could cut through, say, black paper with a swing.

Anyway, the only problem I see right now is the positioning of the mirrors....

Is there a way that I could make a beam run between two parallel mirrors, *without entering the diode*?

You just need some experience with lasers and you will then see for yourself it would be a prop that could slowly burn something...

 

[Eudaimonium]

And none of you all ever though that inserting anything that's not air, into the beam's path would actually block the beam from very first reflection from secondary mirror, hence making nothing but well known 445nm with few miliwatts of losses from that first halfway mirror,

Thus defeating the entire point by itself?

Guys, seriously, stop trying to invent lightsabers. It's not a schematic you do in a photoshop.
And juist for your information, it's not a laser that's imagined as a lightsaber blade.

It's a powerful plasma being emitted and contained inside a powerful magnetic field which forms a tube, which contains said plasma.

So stop playing around with lasers, mirrors, PhotoShop and/or MS Paint, and start living in real world.

I have nothing against "thinking outside the box", contrary actually, but 183rd thread about "Ooh I invented lightsaberz" is ridiculous.

There are more threads about lightsaber ideas than about host and heatsink designs, analog and digital modulation drivers and boost circuits alltogether.

 

[Lumin]

LOL I love Anselm's method, but I'm confused about step 3... my light gets gooey but doesn't solidify, is my freezer set too high?

@eud: so what's wrong with my system? It creates a point of plasma along a line, if it does this much faster than a typical swing motion it's the same effect, minus the need for magnetics (yes yes, unless you count the B-field component of the EM radiated)
I mean no offence by this, but I think that the science fiction of today is the science of tomorrow! I totally agree about the number of lightsaber threads though : )

@wolf: I didn't mean for my response to sound like a Prop proposal, plasma is no prop! Just saying that it'd act functionally equivalently to the light sabers you see in the movies, including light and possibly sound, as WELL as being able to cut things well.

 

[Wolfman29]

I realize the whole "lightsabers have been posted about millions of times" thing, the point was not to make a legitimate, true to movie lightsaber.

All this design is was something similar to a functional lightsaber. In reality, it's just a lightsaber host and a contained beam. It'd be something *fun* to have. Obviously I don't think this will be capable of slicing someone in half. But I do know that a 445nm 1.7W laser is very easily capable of "slicing" apart thin objects.

 

[Eudaimonium]

Your method is esentially creating tiny plasma balls in air along the predefined route. And yes, there are many balls and not straight line because, in all fairness, laser needed to do an electronic breakdown of air is most certanly not available in "CW" edition. Not now and not in 20 years from now.

Also, it would probably sound more like Tesla coil than a Lightsaber.

ALSO, we do have scientists working on science. Inventions are not made accidentaly by people who had spare time and spare pencils/papers (time and drawing software today).
There's unimaginable amount of stuff you need to cover before even grasping an idea how would such a weapon even function.

And even if you DO make it, without need of 20 nuclear powerplants to power it , but make an actual working lightsaber, let's cover one last thing here:

In the movie, Jedis are able to use such weapons because of supernatural precognition abilities thanks to the Force.
Any other REAL human on the other hand, would end up with smoking crotch and mouth full of curses at the guy who invented the damned thing.

Deflecting lasers? They don't exist. Instead, you get hit by bullets. I don't see that getting reflected.

Saber fight? Oh I'll just bring my trusty Russian TT-33 7.62mm Armor piercing pistol, thank you very much.
Or hell, a finely made laser. Any attacker with lightsaber without Force abilities will end up with a lot of crushed hopes of having children, a BLIND attacker with such a "weapon" is a one way-amusing lightshow of pain.

Got that covered.

Any further questions?

 

[Wolfman29]

I don't see what is wrong with my idea... nothing you have said is a problem with it.

 

[Eudaimonium]

I don't see what is wrong with my idea... nothing you have said is a problem with it.

And none of you all ever though that inserting anything that's not air, into the beam's path would actually block the beam from very first reflection from secondary mirror, hence making nothing but well known 445nm with few miliwatts of losses from that first halfway mirror,

Thus defeating the entire point by itself?
...rant rant rant...

There, "pointed" it out for you. Just in case you missed it. If you don't understand what I meant, don't bother asking.
TL;DR - It does not work!

 

[Lumin]

the point was not to make a legitimate, true to movie lightsaber.

It is for me! It's just a question of available power.

And just to clarify, I wan't saying there's too many POSTS about light sabers (whatever people are interested in, right?) but that there's too many THREADS about light sabers.

Maybe there needs to be a section for Light Saber ideas : )

 

[Wolfman29]

I disagree. While yes, it would essentially create a normal laser for a moment when something not air was inserted into the beam, with a strong enough beam and a small enough target, the burn time would be faster than the swing time, which would probably make it so it didn't seem like the beam was being "broken" in the cut. Anyway, can you control the length of a normal laser? I don't think so