The Gungans had some impressive shield technology that I presume The Empire/Galactic Republic had similar sorts of technology.
When using these shields in the Battle of Naboo in The Phantom Menance, the Gungans had a massive encompassing shield that absorbed blasts from the Trade Federation. They also had personal hand-held mobile shields for some of their troops that also reflected energy blasts from Trade Federation Droids.
Thus back to the question, are shields in the Star Wars universe the same technology as Lightsabers or somewhat along the same foundation/theory as Lightsabers ?