Eridonia Archives
(UTN/UAS/ATIS) Polarytically Infused High-Temperature Superconductors
PIHTSC. Superconductors allow transfer of high electrical potential over long distances with little to no loss as heat or light due to resistance in the medium, such as metal cables. Typically, most elements become superconductors at extremely low temperatures, but exploiting this properties requires more energy to cool the medium than is gained in the removal of electrical resistance. Discovery of synthetically produced High-Temperature Superconductors revolutionised starship-grade power delivery systems enabling ultra-high efficiency energy distribution.
Modern HTS materials utilise Polarytic crystals refined to semi-metallic state and exploit their nano-atomic properties to modify the base element. Polarytically infused alloys such as Niobium exhibit near zero resistance of electrical energy potential, believed to be due to the near-perfect atomic barrier created by binding Polarytic Crystals. Exact details of the radical property change are not fully understood, even by the 45th century. Polaryte, also known as Element X-1, is an unusual base element that does not occupy a position on the Periodic Table. X-1 is known to exhibit 'context sensitive' properties when applied to various other elements, or exposed to certain conditions such as radiological or magnetic charges. One such property is the ability for specially refined Polarytic Crystals, reaching a transition metal stage, to be alloyed with existing semi-metals such as Niobium, which allows for the creation of near-perfect electrical transfer capability, even at temperatures where thermal resistance would easily prevent such characteristics.
Niobium-based Polarytically Infused High-Temperature Superconductors have been used in essentially every large-scale power delivery system since their discovery in the mid 3th millennium A.D (Circa ~ 2,550 AD) by Old Federation scientific research universities developing new ways to expand the efficiency of existing designs. Despite the concept being formally introduced by the UTN around this time, it is believed the Terran Space Research Corporation had functioning HTS prototypes at least some 100 cycles before, potentially even before the Great Exodus from Earth.
Modern, kilometre-long starships rely on power delivery systems, linking supercapacitor banks with the primary power-plant, fabricated most commonly from Polarytically-infused Niobium. Such power distributors consist of metre-wide bundles of Niobium rods with Polayrtic alloy and magnetic shields, contained within a vacuum-sealed pipe. Such magnetic shielding is present to protect sensitive electronic equipment, and organic crew members, from both the incredibly strong magnetic fields given off by Tera-watt electrical energy transfer, but also slight Radiological decay of high-X1 alloys used in the composition of the cables themselves.
The energy loss from resistance and thermal build up on such power delivery systems would account for more than 50% of total energy expenditure of the primary powerplant on ultra-optimised modern starship designs. Such efficient power delivery mechanisms have, as such, allowed larger starships to utilise more compact reactors to save in both mass and production cost, especially as HTS elements received significant investment in low-cost mass production. In recent years, the Post-Old Federation occupants of Aquarius experienced a sharp decline in availability of refined Polaryte, due to the destruction of the special equipment required to produce it, in the Aftershock. It wasn't until the Imperial Era and the formation of ATIS, that such means of production have not only been restored, but significantly expanded upon.