How do lightsabers work?

HowStuffWorks posted a great article on exactly how lightsabers work. And of course lightsabers are real, I've seen them for myself, only the technology is being held back by secret world conspirators because they don't yet consider humanity mature enough for it. Jedis, the new terrorists ... and so on

The four major components inside any lightsaber include:

The power cell and associated components
The crystal energy chamber
The energy channel and blade arc tip
The controls

The Power Cell
Obviously a lightsaber contains a tremendous amount of energy - far more than a blaster, for example. Any device that can melt its way through a three-foot-thick reinforced blast door in a matter of minutes obviously has access to tremendous energy reserves. Estimates range as high as several megawatt-hours of stored energy.

The source of this energy is a diatium power cell - a device no larger than a roll of LifeSavers®. Diatium power cells are available from a variety of military and some civilian sources.

Surrounding the power cell is a power field conductor and the power vortex ring. These two devices work in concert with one another to move the available energy toward the energy gate. The energy gate controls the flow of energy into the crystal energy chamber.

The Crystal Energy Chamber
Really the heart of any lightsaber, the crystal energy chamber is responsible for primary energy conversion. At least two crystals (typically of the Adegan variety) are used in the energy chamber.

The first crystal is known as the primary crystal. It converts the energy channeling from the power assembly and then transfers its output to one or more focusing crystals. The focusing crystals are held in place by the focusing crystal activator.

The crystal energy chamber is the reason why all lightsabers are built by hand, and then only in the latter stages of Jedi training. The builder must align the crystals perfectly or risk detonation of the lightsaber upon activation. Only through the use of the force can the proper alignment be guaranteed.

With several megawatt hours of energy on tap, detonation is of course a catastrophic event. For this reason, initial activation is normally done remotely with an inexpensive droid.

The Energy Channel and Controls
The energy channel is where the actual lightsaber blade is generated. Energy flowing from the crystal energy chamber is converted to the arc wave that will become the blade. The arc wave flows up through the blade energy channel and past the cycling field energizers. These energizers are responsible for the gyroscopic effect discussed earlier in the article.

The refined arc wave makes its way to the blade arc tip and from there becomes visible as the glowing blade of the lightsaber that is so familiar.

The on / off switch, also known as the activation matrix, as well as the blade length and power adjustment controls are typically located near the cycling field energizers. Using these controls, the lightsaber's owner can tune the blade for specific applications.