LightSaber Beam done with MacroPhoto and Glow

Choose MacroPhoto as your texture type and set the 'Background' attribute to the glowing white colour in the centre.
In this image both beams had slightly off white, each erring on the side of their colour.
Then select the edge colour as vivid as possible. That nasty neon green colour should do the trick for the green saber.
Then change the Opacity of this to 100.
Change the falloff to about 0.9
Make a new attribute and change the ambience in it to 60%.
Apply this material to an object (a saber beam is a cylinder) and under the 'reflectivity option apply 'Override Base Attribute' then select 'Glow'.
The only problem with this method is that when you view the rod from the end it tends to become transparent.