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Sixty-two years of cold-war balance under Luo Ji's finger — and the moment it ends in a tea-house with a bow.
The Deterrence Era is the high-water mark of human civilization in the trilogy: peaceful, prosperous, gentle, and built entirely on Luo Ji's willingness to push a button. It begins when Luo Ji proves the Dark Forest theory by killing star 187J3X1 with a broadcast spell and forces the Trisolarans into a stalemate. Earth and Trisolaris coexist for sixty-two years under mutually assured destruction. The era ends within minutes of Cheng Xin's investiture — the Trisolaran droplets, hidden behind the Sun for the duration, destroy the gravitational-wave antennae before she can press the switch. It lasted exactly long enough to forget what it was.
An era visible in its architecture: the kilometer-tall tree-cities, the gold-trim orbital rings, the soft warm fashions, the bright-printed clothing of a civilization that has forgotten what hunger looks like. Sophon's tea-house dates from this period; so does the Deterrence Center; so does Cheng Xin's first revival.