Barclay and O'Brien scan the Heisenberg compensator
The Heisenberg compensator was a component of the transporter system. The compensator worked around the problems caused by the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle, allowing the transporter sensors to compensate for their inability to determine both the position and momentum of the target particles to the same degree of accuracy. This ensured the matter stream remained coherent during transport, and no data was lost.
A scan of the Heisenberg compensators, to ensure they were performing within the specified parameters, could be performed by raising the transporter pad. (TNG: "Realm Of Fear")
While trying to devise a way to transport holographic matter off the holodeck without it disintegrating instantly, the idea was put forth that decoupling the Heisenberg compensators might let the matter reform normally, although the suggestion was used as a stalling tactic against Professor James Moriarty, and the idea had never actually been tried before. (TNG: "Ship In A Bottle")
In 2371, Chief Miles O'Brien ordered a crewman to check the Heisenberg compensators of the USS Defiant. (DS9: "Past Tense, Part I")
Werner Heisenberg's "uncertainty principle" suggested that on a subatomic level, it is possible to know the motion or the position of a particle, but not both. Some believe this fundamental characteristic of matter would make it impossible for a transporter to work as shown on Star Trek. The Heisenberg compensator was invented to circumvent this principle and to explain how the transporter can work. (Star Trek Encyclopedia, 4th ed., vol. 1, p. 333)
When asked by Time magazine in 1994, "How does the Heisenberg compensator work?" Michael Okuda replied, "It works very well, thank you." [1]