From
Star Trek: Matter-energy conversion device used to provide a convenient means of transport. The transporter briefly converts an object or person into energy, beams that energy to another location, the reassembles the subject into its original form. Transporters are unable to function when deflector shields are operational. The transporter was
Gene Roddenberry's solution to the television production problem of how to get his characters from the starship to the planet's surface inexpensively.