Photonic crystal

Photonic crystals are composed of metallo-dielectric nanostructures. This trait affords them the ability to hold information and energy making them essential in the cold construction process.

Fiction

IDW Generation 1 continuity

After Nova Prime came to power, he sought to enact the Expansion, a galaxy spanning empire of Cybertronians. His plan hit a snag when the spark generating pulsewaves of Vector Sigma began to slow and eventually cease completely. Needing to bolster the population, he ordered his engineers and theoscientists to "tap the Matrix to see if it could generate life as the legends told. It could. The scientists extracted new sparks at such an alarming rate that they lacked sufficient bodies to store them in. The Divided Self Until new bodies could be built, the spark energy was stored within photonic crystals, The Lopsided Triangle produced by Rung. The true nature of the crystals' origin was never revealed with the common bot believing they had been produced in factories. Modes of Production

One of Nova's scientists eventually decided the practice was heresy and stole the Matrix, placing it in the Undergrid, leaving a fake in its place. Unaware of the theft, the rest of the team believed the Matrix had simply run dry and the cold construction program was shut down. The Divided Self Rung left to do other things with his life with information creep causing him to forget his talent of producing the crystals. Modes of Production

After the Great War ended, it was discovered that the Matrix itself was a synthetic photonic crystal, designed to split in half. When a light was shone on one of the halves, a map was projected. The Death of Optimus Prime

After viewing Skids's corpse, Rung unintentionally produced a photonic crystal. Some Other Cybertron He later produced six more and showed all seven to Nightbeat. Modes of Production

After touching Anode, Drift experienced a vision where it rained photonic crystals. Some Other Cybertron Modes of Production

The Functionist Universe

In a world where Megatron never came to be, the Functionist Council rose to even greater power, eventually locking up Rung in an attempt to gleam the purpose of his alternate mode. Predestination: An Expert's Guide

Two millions years of torture eventually caused Rung to involuntarily produce photonic crystals which were found by Sweep and reported to One-of-Twelve. Predestination: An Expert's Guide Modes of Production

Though the Functionists' first thought was to execute Rung as the spawn of Mortilus, they eventually decided realized that a Cybertronian capable of producing photonic crystals was Primus's way of endorsing cold construction. They blackmailed Rung into producing hundreds of thousands of crystals, all the while they drilled to Vector Sigma for new sparks, before very invasive surgery by One-of-Twelve revealed a way to produce the crystals without Rung's consent. Modes of Production

See also

• Crystalline containment vessel