Custom Handheld Laser Raises Hope Of A Real Lightsaber [Video]

Not too long ago, most Star Wars enthusiasts’ dreams of one day wielding a real lightsaber were crushed. It was said that in order to generate the energy necessary to fuel a lightsaber, we would literally have to harness a power too great to ever be put into a handheld device. This put a jolt through the hopes of one day even holding a real lightsaber. Well, don’t be discouraged by the science behind it all since one brave home tinkerer has been able to build a custom handheld laser that once again raises hope.

This custom handheld build comes from “Styropyro,” a rather innovative designer who decided that science was not going to stop him from at least wielding a slimmer version of a lightsaber. By pulling a diode from a DLP projector and using a pair of 18650 Lithium Ion batteries (which you can find in laptop computers for example), he managed to power the diode in overdrive. The result is a thin, custom, handheld laser lightsaber that in the right conditions (like in a smokey room), looks just like a lightsaber.

Sure, this is far from being a powerful Jedi weapon, but it’s the generated power that we are looking at here. By putting a number of objects in front of the laser, Styropyro demos the intensity of the laser generated, and it’s nothing less than impressive to watch. Imagine if you put several of these diodes together into a thicker and more powerful laser beam. You would actually have something that would be similar to a real lightsaber.

The real challenge is of course making the laser beam stop after a certain distance. How that will ever be possible is probably up to science itself. So either way, if you want this handheld laser to mimic the properties of a real lightsaber, I guess you will have to incorporate science into all of it regardless. At least we’re getting closer to a custom handheld lightsaber that might one day become a reality. For now, we can just drool over Styropyro’s custom creation and marvel.