lightsabres
so, I'm a huge nerd and have been contemplating how lightsabres might work. The best I can come up with is some sort of standing wave. However, a standing wave would require some sort of reflective surface at the end to work out. So I figure a high-density magnetic field and a standing plasma wave would be able to mimic 95% of the properties attributed to a lightsabre, but the math would have to be incredibly precise. It would be much easier to use a simple mirror as the reflective surface, but that would mean basically constructing a standing particle wave to provide the cutting edge for a slashing weapon, in which case you'd basically have a regular sword with a cutting edge made up of laser or plasma or electrons or what have you. Idea number next: this one require nanotech and better grasp of quantum mechanics than I actually have. Set up a trillion or so single electron diodes of length equal to one half the wavelength of an electron in a circle such that they all peak in the same point in space, setting up a quarter of a standing wave with absurd amplitude. I've concluded that they are physically possible to construct, just not right now.