Bridge Generator

A bridge generator is a type of a machine that can create dimensional bridges. Due to the complex process to target the destination and open the bridge as well as the power requirements to keep it open, the machines can be extremely bulky, and are usually built within massive, specialist scientific facilities known as bridge laboratories.

Principles of operation

The process of opening a bridge is multi-stage, beginning first with striking and power injection, then proceeding to targeting, and finally alignment. Shutdown involves a similar process in reverse, including shutting down power injectors, slowly draining energy out of the bridge manifold until it shrinks and disappears, and finally, allowing equipment to cool down and reset.

Striking

The process of bridge generation starts with an incredibly powerful flashlamp-pumped laser in the range of 1-2 petawatts, converging from multiple separate beamlines. A tiny galraite sphere is magnetically suspended in the centre of the bridge room. The laser fires for a pulse of 20ms, striking the galraite sphere, and releasing enough energy (~20TJ) that the manifold vacuum level within the bridge room begins to drastically lower. This allows the manifold to begin to decohere, which is countered by surrounding containment generators that prevent decoherence from affecting the facility itself.

The galraite core is reused across experiments, but eventually depletes greatly enough that it becomes unusable. Therefore, galraite remains a critical consumable resource necessary in dimensional physics, and is one of the many reasons for the high cost of experiments.

Power injection

The manifold has now been penetrated; however, the connection will not stay open for long. The main high-energy particle beams, usually generated by cyclotrons or linear accelerators, now fire, acting to keep the manifold from "self-healing" by forcing its vacuum level to stay low. The required energy to do so fluctuates depending on the activity of the bridge; but is usually around one terawatt.

Targeting

The targeting process involves the selection of the correct route in T-Space to use for the desired target dimension. Real-time measurements from instrumentation around the manifold feeds data into a powerful, purpose-built quantum computer known as a targeting computer, which performs mathematical transformations using predefined parameters to calculate the required transformations to apply to the manifold for it to align with the desired route. These transformations are fed to the bridge via auxiliary particle beams, which hit the bridge with different energies of particles in order to distort it in the required way.

Alignment

The alignment phase involves iteratively applying adjustments to the manifold until it reaches the desired state created by the outcome of the targeting calculations, identified by the bridge's manifold "locking" into a specific energy state, where it can no longer accept further transformations. It is critical at this point to detect the changed state of the manifold and cease further adjustments, as continuing to interfere with a locked bridge has the potential to destabilise it and terminate the connection.

Some modern bridge laboratories now also transform the manifold after alignment using an isosurface manipulator, which renders it as a more doorway or stargate-like form rather than the spherical orb which is the natural appearance of a bridge manifold. This has the benefit of increasing the surface area and making it more accessible to personnel and vehicles.