The phaser adapter was an anti-Borg modification chip added to phasers used by Starfleet in 2367. (TNG: "The Best of Both Worlds, Part II")
In 2366, it was discovered that Borg systems were vulnerable to phaser blasts on a resonance frequency spread in the high narrow band. The Borg adapted to compensate for this weakness after Captain Jean-Luc Picard was assimilated as the Locutus. (TNG: "The Best of Both Worlds")
In 2367, based on a suggestion from Wesley Crusher, a chip known as the phaser adapter was designed. It would automatically re-tune phasers to a random setting after each discharge. Using the adapter, phasers were set on a rotating modulation, to allow at most twelve shots to penetrate Borg shielding before they adapted. (TNG: "The Best of Both Worlds, Part II"; Star Trek: First Contact; VOY: "Scorpion")
A similar technology was invented in 2375 by Species 10026. The Borg adapted by triaxilating their deflector shield geometry to absorb the energy of the modulating phaser pulses. (VOY: "Dark Frontier")
The apocryphal Star Trek: Voyager - Elite Force and Star Trek: Elite Force II video games feature a rifle weapon developed by the crew of USS Voyager, known as the infinity modulator or I-MOD (β), in which this modulation technology was perfected and Borg drones were not able to adapt their personal force fields to its blasts.
Phaser technology |
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Tools: phaser bore • phaser drill |
Weapons: Automatic bridge defense system • Bajoran phaser • Bajoran phaser rifle • compression phaser rifle • Ferengi hand phaser • Galor-class phaser bank • hand phaser • Kzinti phaser • particle phaser • phaser array • phaser bank • phaser cannon • phaser emitter • phaser pulse • phaser type-1 • phaser type-2 • phaser type-3 • phaser type-4 • phaser type-8 • plasma phaser • Regalian phaser rifle • regenerative phaser |
Other: phaser adapter • phaser coil • phaser coolant • phaser coupling • phaser range • phaser relay • phaser room • phaser station • phaser sweep |