"Phasers" are the term used for standard beam artillery weapons originally utilized by the United Federation of Planets since the mid 2200's. Since then the technology has been independently developed, copied, stolen, and imitated by several less-powerful interstellar groups in favor of disruptors, which are most often used by other large non-Federation governments. The name of the weapon is actually an acronym for PHASed Energy Rectification, a holdover from previous technologies that converted energy from one form to another without need for an intermediate energy transformation; a process analogous to turning solid water (ice) into gaseous form (steam) without ever becoming a liquid. Today, phasers are used in wide application, from the cannons, banks, and arrays found onboard various starships and facilities down to handheld weaponry employed by StarFleet away teams.

Phaser operation is dependent on a short-lived subatomic particle called a rapid nadion, which is a nuclear disruptor. When found in high enough concentrations and energy states, this special type of nadion negates the Strong Nuclear Force that binds the protons and neutrons of atomic matter together. This process results in the spontaneous destruction of the nucleus in what is known as "explosive decoupling."

This reaction alone liberates a great amount of thermal energy, as the natural repulsion between subatomic particles within the nucleus causes the matter to instantaneously disassociate into free-floating protons, neutrons, and electrons. Essentially, the rapid nadion effect causes matter to spontaneously undergo nuclear fission. Because of this exothermic nuclear effect, phaser weapons are capable of causing much more damage than would be possible with a comparatively powered direct energy-transfer weapon, such as traditional lasers.

Nadions themselves are a class of near-zero rest mass particles produced when an exotic crystal called fushigi-no-umi (or boronite) becomes energized. They are electrically neutral and composed of two positively charged and two negatively charged elemental Geheiminis particles, which have found extended application within the Yuufusion Imperium. Most nadions are harmless non-interactive particles produced as a side effect of various technologies or natural processes, and fall in to three basic categories: slow, regular, and rapid.

Slow nadions have a phase variance of less than .00001 when compared with normal matter, and are often found as side effects of transporters and other matter-energy transfer devices. They do not interact with any kind of periodic matter, and are usually not detected unless specifically scanned for. Regular nadions, also called natural nadions can have phase variances anywhere as high as .0001, and are usually found in nature as a side effect of subspace anomalies. Sometimes these nadions will interact with matter, exciting atoms to higher energy states for short periods of time. Rapid nadions, however, are only produced by the artificial excitation of fushigi-no-umi by plasma or other forms of energy transfer. Their phase variances can range as high as .001 and have the exotic effect of negating the Strong Nuclear Force within atomic nuclei. At such extreme variances, these particles begin to alter the phasic state of the matter they interact with, "dragging" it out of sync with the rest of the universe, in an event commonly called "vaporization." This effect applies to both the matter and energy released in the explosive decoupling effect, conveniently shunting dangerous radiation out of the surrounding environment.

At regulated energy levels, the destructiveness of the rapid nadion can be controlled to a high degree, balancing its thermal impact with its nuclear disruptive effect, creating a wide range of desired results in a target; from mild stunning of an organism to rapid vaporization and transfer out of the normal space-time continuum. Similar results can be achieved by rapid nadions simply shunted through a focusing artifice, as is the case with disruptor weapons. However, usually these results are less predictable and potentially dangerous. Uneven vaporizations often occur with the use of disruptors, causing excruciating pain upon blast impact, where as phaser-controlled nadions quickly and uniformly vaporize matter, with less much risk to the user. This disparity partially has to do in which way the disruptor crystals are forced pulse charged and with how the resulting beam is handled.

Phasers are commonly deployed in one of three basic configurations aboard starships and starbases: cannons, banks, and arrays, but other groups are known to have applied phaser technology to different application. Phaser cannons were the first widely used emplacements aboard federation starships during the 2240's. Consisting of a computer controlled power flow regulator, they were capable of both intermediate pulse fire or continuous phaser bursts. Phaser cannons are often still found on Federation space stations and other facilities, although their design commonly differs from those used back in the early 23rd century. Phaser banks are a more contemporary design, reinforcing and complicating the original cannon setup into a more compact and powerful device. The term "bank" comes from the fact that these emitters, unlike their cannon predecessors, were controlled by an EPS submaster, a central device that directed energy flow to each phaser emplacement. Since early Federation starships could not provide enough energy flow for the EPS submaster to simultaneously distribute to each emitter, the banks had to "charge" before they could fire.

Phaser arrays expand and enhance the phaser bank design by actually placing emitters side-by-side in long stretching bands of up to two hundred individual emplacements. The emplacements are interdependent, however; rapid nadion charges from each of the individual emitters compounds into the final discharge beam; the visual effect of this in one or two orange spots advancing along the length of a phaser array before discharging toward a target. The main advantage of phaser arrays is that they increase the firing arc of a starbase or starship considerably, while also allowing for more powerful and longer lasting bursts of rapid nadions.

Phaser operation generally proceeds in the following manner: The EPS submaster controls energy supply to a group of sub-routers called flow regulators. Flow regulators act as a backup system to the EPS submaster, ensuring that the proper amounts of energy are sent to the emitters. Once energy passes through the flow regulators, a system called the plasma distribution manifold takes over. The plasma distribution manifold uses a system of lasers to energize compact pockets of helium gas into plasma. From there, a series of magnetic tubes and valves guides the plasma to an emplacement's pre-fire chamber, where a crystal of fushigi-no-umi is waiting. The plasma energizes the crystal, and it emits rapid nadions, which are focused and directed out of the emitter chamber in the form of a phaser beam. The particle beam travels at nearly and speed of light, decelerating from its point of origin, and for this reason for a long time phasers could not be used while at warp unless the two ships were at or very near the same warp velocity. This problem was solved recently, however, by jacketing the phaser beam in a subspace annular confinement beam (ACB), allowing these weapons to be utilized while at hyperlight velocities.

Because of the phased nature of nadion particles, Imperial ray shielding proved ineffective in repelling phaser weapons during the skirmish at Imatia. This problem, however, was quickly rectified by Imperial engineers as such a shortcoming was categorically unacceptable to the patrons of the Galactic Empire.