I've just been wondering if a light saber is similar to an electrolaser [1], where you use a laser to ionize air and then send out an electric current through t

I've just been wondering if a light saber is similar to an electrolaser [1], where you use a laser to ionize air and then send out an electric current through the plasma channel. I could be wrong but wouldn't the power of the laser determine the length of the plasma channel? [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrolaser http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrolaser