I’ve seen a few videos circulating the internet regarding homemade lightsabers, where one of the coolest designs I saw utilized a mini flamethrower. I figured I better show a video of my homebuilt version of the lightsaber…where my design uses a MASSIVE 7W blue laser. 😀
In terms of building a working lightsaber, the two main limiting factors are beam confinement and high energy density storage. With the amazing Li-Ion batteries that the scientists/engineers have developed, stupidly powerful handheld lasers can be built, just like this one here. The issue then becomes confinement, which doesn’t look possible any time soon with a device like this. Oh well, my attempt is still bright and light things on fire!!
My device uses a Nichia GaN laser diode, which was overdriven to 7W of output by running it at 4.6A with a couple high efficiency buck drivers in parallel. An anti-reflective coated glass lens focuses the beam, and the whole device is powered by two unprotected 18650 batteries in series.
Upcoming videos are gonna be awesome…so watch out! Look for a ~150W laser bazooka, and potentially, a pulsed laser power by explosives!!!
