The scientists at M.I.T and Harvard have accidentally discovered how a lightsaber works by conducting an experiment involving quantum mechanics.
Headed by Mikhail Lukin, a Harvard professor, the team had actually conducted an experiment in order to transmit a minimum amount of particles in a physical interaction, but ended up observing the changes of a photon when it hit rubidium atoms.
When a photon was fired through these atoms, the photon dumped its energy onto the first rubidium atom it came in contact with, which made one of its electrons gain energy.
The electron then released its energy back to the photon, and this process slowed down the speed of light, from 300 million meters per second to about 100 to 1,000 meters per second.
This exchange of energy resulted in two “light antennas” which “push and deflect” each other, akin to what viewers see when they are watching a lightsaber duel in a Star Wars film.
Although we may be able to make actual lightsabers in the future, more research still needs to be done as Ofer Firstenberg, a scientist involved in this experiment, is still baffled as to how George Lucas managed to create his iconic lightsabers.
[via The Guardian, TIME]