franchise-star-trek-tng-technical-manual1

11.1 PHASERS11.1.4 Phaser bank emplacements (ventral view)Nacelle pylon array (P/S)Saucer Module ventral arrayBattle Sectionaft array (P/S)Battle Section forward arrayend of each prefire chamber. The manifold is a single crystalboronite solid, and is machined by phaser cutters. The prefirechamber is a sphere of LiCu 518 reinforced with woundhafnium tritonide, which is gamma-welded. It is within theprefire chamber that energy from the plasma undergoes thehandoff and initial EM spectrum shift associated with the rapidnadion effect (RNE). The energy is confined for between 0.05and 1.3 nanoseconds by a collapsible charge barrier beforepassing to the LiCu 518 emitter for discharge. The action ofraising and collapsing the charge barrier forms the requiredpulse for the RNE. The power level commanded by thesystem or voluntarily set by the responsible officer determinesthe relative proportion of protonic charge that will be createdand pulse frequency in the final emitter stage.Energy from all discharged segments passes directionallyover neighboring segments due to force coupling, convergingon the release point, where the beam will emerge andtravel at cto the target. Narrow beams are created by rapidsegment order firing; wider fan or cone beams result fromslower firing rates. Wide beams are, of course, prone tomarked power loss per unit area covered.BEAM EMISSIONThe trifaceted crystal that constitutes the final dischargestage is formed from LiCu 518 and measures 3.25 x 2.45 x1.25 meters for a single segment. The crystal lattice formulaused in the forced-matrix process is LixCu»:Si::Fe>:>:0.The collimated energy beam exits one or more of the facets,depending on which prefire chambers are being pumped withplasma. The segment firing order, as controlled by the phaserfunction command processor, together with facet dischargedirection, determines the final beam vector.