The average man spends three months finding the ideal diamond engagement ring. That doesn’t mean he shops for 24 hours a day. Nevertheless, it’s understandable: chances are, he’s never bought a diamond before, and doesn’t have much knowledge on the topic. Engagement rings don’t come cheap, and so the pressure is on to get it right.

The most important thing is to take your time. Get to know the most popular diamond shapes and think about which might fit best with her personal style. Learn about the 4Cs, so that you can find the best diamond at the best price for you.

Like wondering whether she’ll say yes isn’t stressful enough. You’re also supposed to select and purchase a ring that fits her magnificent personality, her singular style and her, ahem, finger?

Step #1: KNOW THE FOUR C’s

CUT

This refers to not only the shape of the stone, but its proportions, factors which determine the sparkle of the diamond engagement ring. Proportions determine brilliance and sparkle. Grades are assigned based on these. (Don’t confuse cut with shape.)

Shallow: Looks bigger from top, light escapes out the bottom

Ideal: Light enters, exits through top; most expensive

Deep: Light exits the sides; usually a higher carat weight

CLARITY

This indicates how clear the diamond is, how free from blemishes and other imperfections. Ranks internal imperfections, called inclusions (I). Only grades I 1-I 3 have inclusions visible to the naked eye.

COLOR

Diamonds are found in a variety of colors, but in general, the whiter the better. A letter-grade scale rating the absence of color.

CARAT WEIGHT

This is actually the weight of the stone, not its dimensions. This is how much the diamond weighs. 1carat = 100 points. Bigger number = higher cost. (Bigger isn’t always better.) Also consider the top of the diamond in millimeters, which determines how big it looks in the setting.

The price you’ll pay for a diamond depends on the four Cs. They determine what I call the fifth C: Cost.

Before we learn how to grade the quality of a diamond and determine what it should cost, let me share some acquired wisdom about diamond buying. Don’t ever lose sight of the fact that you’re probably buying a diamond to make the love of your life happy. If you ask a woman what she’d like in a diamond, she’s not going to say, “Honey, I want a one-and-a-half carat, VS1, F(1) in a Class II cut.” (If she does, better rob a bank—this woman’s going to be expensive!) What she will say is something like, “Honey, I want it to be big, clear, white, and sparkly.” It’s your man-job to take those general adjectives, translate them into diamond grades, decide on a stone, and get your money’s worth.

Step #2: SHAPE, SETTING

Shape

Rounds are the most popular, but pick what she’ll love. The distinction between a diamond's shape and cut may be confusing at first. The shape refers to the appearance of the stone, and the cut to the diamond's ability to reflect light.

Most diamond shapes are round, square (cushion), rectangular (princess, Asscher, emerald, radiant), heart-shaped, pear-shaped, oval, or marquise (like a pear but pointed on both ends). The easiest way to distinguish the two is with pictures. The picture below shows the most common diamond shapes.

The round brilliant is the most popular diamond shape and cut, with many sources citing that three-fourths of the diamonds sold are of this type. This could be for several reasons. Most rough diamonds are shaped such that two round brilliant diamonds can be cut with the least amount of crystal lost. Also, the round brilliant and the princess shape (which is the next most popular) are common because they reflect light best and are thus the most brilliant for their size. Crystals that are not symmetrically formed or have awkwardly located inclusions are often cut into what is called a "fancy cut" or a cut other than a round brilliant.

Setting

When deciding on a diamond engagement ring, the setting is one of the most important factors to consider. Different ring setting styles cater to a wide range of tastes. A classic, understated bride-to-be may prefer a simple solitaire while more fashion-forward women might like the bezel or tension settings. Use this ring setting guide to learn more about the available options. Anything your heart desires. Top metals are yellow gold (10K, 14K, 18K), white gold (needs replating over time), and platinum (hypoallergenic and most expensive).

Step #3: KNOW YOUR GIRLFRIEND

Ask yourself: What do her favorite jewelry pieces look like? Are they more contemporary or art deco engagement rings? Classic? Vintage looking? Are they big and bold pieces or more understated? How does she dress? Would you classify her as bold, earthy, vintage, classic or elegant? You may not have to choose a diamond engagement ring. You can consider other precious gemstones. Read about other gemstones at List of Precious Gems by Value with Pictures.

Step #4: KNOW HER RING SIZE

Find out her ring size without asking her by:

a) If she wears a ring on her ring finger, grab it next time it’s off. Place it on a piece of paper, run a pencil around the inside and take the drawing to the jeweler, who can turn your reconnaissance into an actual size. Or, go costume jewelry shopping. Have her try on a variety of rings on different fingers, keeping in mind which one fits her ring finger. Buy it for later reference.

b) Locating a jewelry box belonging to the woman for whom you're choosing a ring.

c) Find a ring. Make sure it's one that she has worn recently, and that it's one she wears on the correct finger.

d) Select a ring that she wears often, but make sure she sports it on the correct finger. Choosing a ring that she wears on her index finger won't help you size a ring for her ring finger.

e) Remember: Focusing on only one C will rarely satisfy anyone. You can buy a one-carat diamond for a few hundred dollars if you ignore color, cut, and clarity. The idea is to find a balance. Also Remember: Never buy a diamond that’s already in a setting. The setting makes it almost impossible to examine the stone carefully. Buy the diamond first, then decide what setting to put it into.

Step #5: CHOOSE THE BEST JEWELER

a) Part of your criteria for choosing a ring shop or jewelry shop is its engraving and sizing policies. If both are included free—and in some places they aren’t—it’s an advantage. Measure this one carefully, though, because an expensive store with free sizing and engraving is not better than an inexpensive store that charges extra for engraving and sizing.

b) You should only deal with jewelers who have been around a long time, have a long-lasting reputation, are affiliated with professional associations, and enjoy a strong reputation among your friends, family, and colleagues. A quality establishment can get you a quality engagement ring. Those fly-by night shops? Avoid them like the plague even if they advertise rock bottom prices.

c.) The retailer would have to be in business, with a brick-and-mortar location for at least ten years. (That way I would know they weren’t going anywhere.)

d.) A clean Better Business Bureau (BBB) record.

e.) A lab appraisal or lab grading report with the purchase. Also, never accept a lab grading report older than six months. You never know where that diamond has been or what’s been done to it since it was graded. If they are convinced their old diamond is so wonderful, have them regrade it.

f.) A bonding document guaranteeing the diamond is 100 percent natural and not treated.

g.) Lifetime breakage guarantee to guard against baked diamonds.

h.) Lifetime cash buy-back to guarantee against any future customer dissatisfaction.

i.) A lifetime exchange policy.

j.) A lifetime trade-in policy.

k.) A fair, provable price.

l.) Free annual service.

m.) Knowledgeable salespeople.

n.) Good store reputation.

o.) Takes all major credit cards.

Step #6: LOOK FOR DEALS OR DISCOUNTS

a) Diamonds with flaws in them are priced lower, due to their lesser value on the market, but you should always avoid rings where their flaws are visible to the naked eye. Of course, a jeweler is going to steer you away from rings with inclusions that can be seen with a jeweler’s loupe or magnifying machine. However, here’s something to keep in mind: a good jeweler will be able to tell you if a stone’s particular minor flaw can be covered by the prong. Once set, the ring looks amazing. The flaw is hidden from view. Sometimes there is life for a slightly flawed stone, and you can get it for far less than a stone that is graded “perfect” or “near perfect.” Be diligent in your research for this, and know that having a great jeweler is key to these kinds of brilliant arrangements.

b) Shop for ring stones separately at jeweler’s centers or the diamond district of a big city. Many men have found that while this isn’t the most efficient means of getting an engagement ring, since it does take some travel and deal making. Just be patient and your efforts will be rewarded.

c) Take advantage of pre-holiday sales at jewelry shops. Before the winter holidays (peak engagement time, that is), many ring shops will hold wonderful sales. You might wish to time your engagement ring shopping excursion for these times when you can get the ring of your dreams for 40 to 60 percent off.

d) Pave-set diamonds are a favorite “trick” of people who want their rings to look more dazzling. Pave-set diamonds are something like a cobblestone road in their creation, with smaller diamond pieces set flat to look more sparkly. This type of setting might give you the flash you’re after, without the price tag of three large set stones or channel stones.

e) Consider buying your rings in an antique shop, where beautiful rings with some history are offered at lower prices. Just be sure to get the rings appraised immediately to be sure you’ve gotten your money’s worth. You may even find that your three-hundred-dollar ring is actually a valuable piece of jewelry.

f) Make sure you’re getting your money’s worth. Check the inside of the bands for a fourteen-carat (14k) gold marking if that’s what you’re buying.

g) Economical choices may be gold- or silver-plated bands. They still carry the same meaning, no matter what they’re made of.

h) For great deals on quality gemstones, shop in the diamond district of your nearest major city. This is where the buyers for all of those jewelry stores in the mall come to get wholesale prices and then sell the same jewels to you at higher prices. Check out where they’re shopping and you may discover a great find.

i) Go to your family’s regular jeweler for proven reliability and a possible discount for your loyalty to the place. One lucky man I know received 10 percent off on rings just because she’d recently bought a gift there for her mother.

j) Another popular option among many couples today is designing their own engagement rings, and then taking the design (and perhaps even the stones) to their reputable jeweler who will “build” their custom rings. It sounds like it would be more expensive than buying an existing ring, but that’s not always the case. So check it out and visit websites like www.bluenile.com or www.adiamondisforever.com, where you can design your own ring according to the gemstone and ring settings you want, and then either order them online or print out your design to take to your jeweler.

k) Comparison shop for your rings in different stores of different sizes, in different parts of town. Price tags vary, and you may be able to find a great deal.

l) Visit jewelry stores outside the high-income bracket neighborhoods. In some areas, you could go to the high-end mall and pay $12,000 for a ring, or you could go to a ring shop in a more quaint neighborhood with great stores and get the same ring for $4,000. It’s a law of real estate. Some places are just more expensive by nature of their reputation, so include some shops in other, less elite areas near you.

m) Check discount jewelry stores and department stores nearest you. Sales flyers will announce special savings, and throughout-the-store discounts may apply at the jewelry counter.

Step #7: CHOOSING PAYMENT METHOD

a) Get a written appraisal of your rings with your receipt. Make sure your ring supplier offers a good return policy, in case you must exchange them for another size or style.

b) A good warranty should be offered to you as well. Ask about it.

c) Think seriously about whether you want to arrange an installment plan for paying off your rings. Interest will pile up, costing you much more money than the price of the ring. A better alternative is to use your credit card—ensuring you proper reimbursement in case of a problem and, at times, credits or frequent flier miles. Just be sure to pay off that amount on your credit card so you’re not accumulating interest on your credit account.

Step #8: WHAT TO DO AFTER YOU PURCHASE

a) After you buy your rings, have them appraised immediately. Go to a jeweler other than the one from whom you bought the ring for this service.

b) This is tip optional to reduce your expenses. Have your rings insured immediately. In case of loss or theft, you’ll be reimbursed their full value. The American Gem Society offers a great free brochure on the details of insuring your rings.

Have you heard of the most expensive diamond on earth? Then you better read this, Australian Pink Diamond Jewelry: The Most Expensive Diamond?.

If you are into videos watch a short clip about tips on How to Choose an Engagement Ring

There are many of the words and phrases used when discussing gemstones and jewelries. If you have time, read this... Glossary of Jewelry and Gemstones Terms. It will allow you to better understand the lingo or jargons that so many sales associates speak, and next time you're at the store, you will sound like the expert.

Call it either grace or irony. But scattered throughout western Australia's mammoth but so far mediocre diamond output, comprised mostly of industrials selling for under $10 per carat, are a few fancy pink stones that have commanded up to $400,000 per carat at auction. "We're talking pink with a capital 'P,' " says a New York fancy color diamond specialist.

Before 1985, few pink diamonds deserved even a small "p" so dealers settled for faintly colored stones, believing darker hues too much to expect from nature any more than once or twice in a century. The discovery of diamonds in Australia gave diamond dealers new hopes. Although hearty pink diamonds from Australia probably don't add up to more than a few thousand carats (in the rough!) of its 30-million-carat-plus annual production, this trickle is a flood when compared to output from Australia's past and present rival sources for fancy pink diamonds such as India, Brazil and South Africa. Indeed, some diamond people act like Australia is the first meaningful producer of true pinks.

This explains why the company that since 1982 has marketed the vast majority of Australia's diamonds, Argyle Diamond Sales Ltd., combs through its caratage with fine-tooth thoroughness, singling out the pinks for preferential treatment. As a result, few of these precious roughs wind up in the production Argyle sells to De Beers, its biggest customer, or even on the open market. Instead, the company cuts them in its own factory in Perth, then sells the very best of them at annual invitation only auctions (called "tenders") in Geneva. At the third of these sales in November 1987, London jeweler Laurence Graf paid $3.5 million for all 30 lots-nearly double the $2 million aggregate of all the second highest bids!

Given the dramatic sums that Argyle's pinks bring in behind-closed door sales to dealers, it seems safe to conclude that trade professionals are convinced these covetables are likely to remain needles in huge haystacks- at best once-in-a-while rather than once-in-a-blue-moon affairs. What is it about Australian pinks that stirred up such a commotion in the first place?

Beyond "Pastel" Color: Fancy Pink Diamond

Argyle pinks possess sterling attributes, chief among them, deep body color. This attribute is no accident. Gemologist Stephen Hofer, Colored Diamond Laboratory Services, New York, one of the first to study Australian pink diamonds in depth, noted unique concentrations of minute pink grain lines inside Australian stones that were so dense they could not be told apart unless observed under extremely high magnification. While fancy color pinks from other localities also had pink grain lines, they were invariably fainter and sparser. Hofer therefore concluded that these grain-line congestions imparted very saturate color to Australian pinks. No wonder, then, that a high percentage of Argyle pinks merit the distinction of being called "fancy" color. This is the Gemological Institute of America's highest grade for natural-color diamonds. Most non-Australian pinks submitted to GIA for grading rarely earned ratings above GIA's lower and bottom rung diamond color designations of "light" or "faint' A few managed to earn a second-best designation of "fancy light'. Yet during the first quarter of 1985, when dealers sent a total of 152 Australian pinks for GIA grading reports, nearly all earned the lab's top pink-color grade of "fancy'. That's pretty astounding, considering the fact that those 152 pink diamonds represented more pinks, regardless of grade, than GIA ordinarily sees in a year.

Australian pink diamonds  color is indisputably "fancy'. Never before had we seen such saturation of color in pink diamonds. One did not have to squint to see pink or use charitable euphemisms like "pastel pink" when talking about them. That's because many of these stones veer as much into the purple part of the spectrum as they do into what we call pink (a very desaturated form of red).

Along with the purple, however, often comes a large amount of brown and gray-resulting in a less-than-pure-pink color Hofer aptly describes as "smoky purplish pink'. Use of the adjective "smoky" is meant to convey the impact of the color modifiers gray or brown, almost always present in Australian pinks. For some traditionalists used to fine pinks with color more reminiscent of raspberry, the presence of such modifiers is a drawback. Most dealers, however, think Australian pinks set their own, far superior standard of color excellence.

The Value of Fancy Colored Diamonds

Diamonds that enter the Gemological Institute of America's scale are valued according to their clarity and color. For example, a "D" or "E" rated diamond (both grades are considered colorless) is much more valuable than an "R" or "Y" rated diamond (light yellow or brown). This is due to two effects: high-color diamonds are rarer, limiting supply; and the bright white appearance of high-color diamonds is more desired by consumers, increasing demand. Poor color is usually not enough to eliminate the use of diamond as a gemstone. If other gemological characteristics of a stone are good, a low-color diamond can remain more valuable as a gem diamond than an industrial-use diamond, and can see use in diamond jewelry.

Fancy diamonds are valued using different criteria than those used for regular diamonds. When the color is rare, the more intensely colored a diamond is, the more valuable it becomes. Another factor that affects the value of fancy-colored diamonds is fashion trends. For example, pink diamonds fetched higher prices after Jennifer Lopez received a pink diamond engagement ring. Extremely low grade quality has not stopped creative merchants, such as Le Vian, from marketing Dark Brown diamonds as so-called "Chocolate Diamonds".

Fancy-colored diamonds such as the deep blue Hope Diamond are among the most valuable and sought-after diamonds in the world. In 2009 a 7-carat (1.4 g) blue diamond fetched the highest price per carat ever paid for a diamond when it was sold at auction for 10.5 million Swiss francs (US$9.5 million at the time) which is in excess of US$1.3 million per carat.

Low Recovery Rate

One of the only disappointments about Australia's big find of pink diamonds is their small size. Nearly all that we have seen are melee, averaging around 10 points. Yet, remarkably, the roughs from which these stones come are often fairly large. But due to their highly imperfect nature, as much as 90% must be cut away just to derive one decent polished stone. One dealer told us of a 2.5-carat rough that yielded only a 31-point diamond "And even this stone was still rejection;' he adds. Because most Australian pinks are small, and their color deep, their imperfections are generally more tolerable than if found in lighter color or white diamonds. Consumers with trained eyes might notice slight cracks or etching lines in some stones that impart a rough or pitted texture to small areas. Gemologists have taken to using the word "frosted" to describe the appearance of these areas.

Despite their size and clarity problems, Australian pinks have created a considerable commotion in a very short period. To us, they are truly admirable stones-so admirable, in fact, that the fuss made about them may encourage false expectations on the part of potential customers. Sad to say, the saturate color common in small sizes is hard to find in larger stones. There is one robust-pink diamond from Australia that weighed more than 3 carats, a 3.14-carat purplish-pink cushion-cut stone that sold for $1.3 million at Christie's New York in April 1989. Dealers worry that worldwide media attention paid to such a stone may result in a preference for dark pink-a preference that totally ignores the fact that this color is never found in larger stones.

But even if big pinks with deep color did come on the market with the regularity of small ones, few could afford to buy them. At the Christie's April auction, 16 Australian pinks were offered, ranging from 41 points to 3.14 carats. Of this group, 14 sold-10 of them to members of the public willing to pay tens of thousands of dollars for the privilege of owning pink diamonds with colors connoisseurs could only dream of a decade ago.

Where is the Largest Pink Diamond Mine on Earth?

The Argyle Diamond Mine is a diamond mine located in the East Kimberley region in the remote north of Western Australia. Argyle is the largest diamond producer in the world by volume, although due to the low proportion of gem-quality diamonds, is not the leader by value. It is the only known significant source of pink diamonds, producing over 90% of the world's supply. It additionally provides a large proportion of other naturally colored diamonds, including champagne, cognac and rare blue diamonds. Argyle is currently transitioning from an open pit mine to an underground mine.

In 2013, Argyle is estimated to produce 10.2 million carats with an average per carat price of $25/carat. The Argyle diamond mine is also notable for being the first successful commercial diamond mine exploiting a volcanic pipe of lamproite, rather than the more usual kimberlite pipe; much earlier attempts to mine diamonds from a lamproite pipe in Arkansas, USA were commercially unsuccessful. The Argyle mine is owned by the Rio Tinto Group, a diversified mining company which also owns the Diavik Diamond Mine in Canada and the Murowa Diamond Mine in Zimbabwe.

What are the Most Expensive Pink Diamonds?

1) Pink Start Diamond

In 2013 the Pink Star was auctioned by Sotheby's in Geneva on 13 November. The sale price was $83,187,381 (£52,000,000), a world record for a diamond of any color and, indeed, for any gemstone. Prior to the sale the record had been held by the Graff Pink. The diamond measures 2.69cm by 2.06cm (1.06 inches by 0.81 inches) and is set on a ring. The Pink Star was sold to Isaac Wolf, a well known New York diamond cutter who has renamed it the Pink Dream. The winning bid surpasses the $46.2m paid for the Graff Pink diamond three years ago, which was half the size of the Pink Star. The $83m includes Sotheby's commission.

The winning bid was for 68 million Swiss francs and reports say there was a long silence between that offer and the previous telephone bid of 67m Swiss francs. "Ladies and gentlemen, 68 million francs is the world record bid for a diamond ever bid and it's right here," Sotheby's David Bennett said as he brought down the hammer. Sotheby's played the theme tune from the "Pink Panther" movie after the winning bid was confirmed.

Origin of the Pink Star Diamond

The Pink Star, formerly known as the Steinmetz Pink, is a diamond weighing 59.60 carats (11.92 g), rated in color as Fancy Vivid Pink by the Gemological Institute of America. The Pink Star was mined by De Beers in 1999 in South Africa, and weighed 132.5 carats in the rough. The Pink Star is the largest known diamond having been rated Vivid Pink. As a result of this exceptional rarity, the Steinmetz Group took a cautious 20 months to cut the Pink. It was unveiled in Monaco on 29 May 2003 in a public ceremony.

The Pink Star was displayed (as the Steinmetz Pink) as part of the Smithsonian's "The Splendor of Diamonds" exhibit, alongside the De Beers Millennium Star, the world’s second largest (the Centenary Diamond is the largest) top colour (D) internally and externally flawless pear-shaped diamond at 203.04 carat (40.608 g), the Heart of Eternity Diamond, a 27.64 carat (5.582 g) heart-cut blue diamond and the Moussaieff Red Diamond, the world's largest known Fancy Red diamond at 5.11 carats (1.102 g).

The Pink Star was sold privately in 2007 but neither the identity of the buyer nor the price is on public record.

Former Names of "The Pink Star"

1999–2007: The Steinmetz Pink

2007–2013: The Pink Star

from 2013: The Pink Dream

Are you interested in fancy gemstone? Try... Burma Jadeite: How to Grade a Burmese Jadeite.

2) Graff Pink Diamond

Graff Pink (diamond) is a 24.78-carat emerald-cut stone classified by the Gemological Institute of America as "fancy intense pink"—a high colour rating for pink diamonds—and has been assessed as Diamond Type IIa, placing it in the top two per cent of the world's diamonds.

“What makes it so immensely rare is the combination of its exceptional color and purity with the classic emerald-cut,” David Bennett, chairman of Sotheby’s European and the Middle Eastern jewelry departments, said in a statement. “It’s a style of cutting normally associated with white diamonds and one that is so highly sought-after when found in rare colors such as pink and blue.”

The early history of the diamond is not clear. It was sold in the 1950s by American celebrity jeweler Harry Winston to a private collector, who owned it up until 2010, when it was sold at auction. Despite its rarity, the diamond was unnamed for all this time. The diamond is emerald cut with rounded corners, and is mounted on a platinum ring with two flanking shield-shaped diamonds.

Graff Pink Diamond 2010 Auction

The pre-sale estimate for the diamond was US $27 million to US $38 million (£17 million to £24 million). The diamond was shown around the world prior to the auction in Geneva. It sold for US $46 million (£29 million), making it the most expensive single jewel ever sold at auction. It was bought by diamond dealer Laurence Graff, of Graff Diamonds, who named it Graff Pink.

Have you heard of gemstone horse-tails? Please read to know more... Demantoid Garnet Gemstone Jewelry: What are Demantoid Horsetails?

References:

Renee Newman. 2008. Diamond Ring Buying Guide: How to Evaluate, Identify, and Select Diamonds & Diamond Jewelry, (Newman Gem & Jewelry Series). International Jewelry Pubs.; 7 Updated edition. ISBN-10: 0929975405

Renee Newman. 2010. Diamond Handbook: A Practical Guide to Diamond Evaluation, (Newman Gem & Jewelry Series) International Jewelry Pubs.; 2 edition. ISBN-10: 0929975391

Tamara Cohen (2010-10-26). "£24million pink panther: Rare diamond set to fetch record price | Mail Online". London: dailymail.co.uk.

"Pink diamond to sell for £24m". London: Telegraph. 2010-10-04.

"BBC News - Rare pink diamond sells for record-breaking £29m". bbc.co.uk. 2010-11-16.

Bennett, David (13 November 2013). "'The Pink Dream': An Auction Record for Any Jewel". Sotheby’s.

"Pink Star diamond fetches record $83m at auction". BBC News, Business. BBC.

Gemological Institute of America. "The Steinmetz Pink".

Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. "The Splendor of Diamonds". 

Synthetic diamond (also known as laboratory-created diamond, laboratory-grown diamond, cultured diamond or cultivated diamond) is diamond produced in an artificial process, as opposed to natural diamonds, which are created by geological processes. Synthetic diamond is also widely known as HPHT diamond or CVD diamond after the two common production methods (referring to the high-pressure high-temperature and chemical vapor deposition crystal formation methods, respectively).

Although often referred to as synthetic, this term has been considered somewhat problematic. In the U.S., the Federal Trade Commission has indicated that the alternative terms laboratory-grown, laboratory-created, and [manufacturer-name]-created "would more clearly communicate the nature of the stone", as consumers associate the term synthetic with imitation products – whereas man-made diamonds are actual diamond material.

Numerous claims of diamond synthesis were documented between 1879 and 1928; most of those attempts were carefully analyzed but none were confirmed. In the 1940s, systematic research began in the United States, Sweden and the Soviet Union to grow diamonds using CVD and HPHT processes. The first reproducible synthesis was reported around 1953. Those two processes still dominate the production of synthetic diamond. A third method, known as detonation synthesis, entered the diamond market in the late 1990s. In this process, nanometer-sized diamond grains are created in a detonation of carbon-containing explosives. A fourth method, treating graphite with high-power ultrasound, has been demonstrated in the laboratory, but currently has no commercial application.

The properties of synthetic diamond depend on the details of the manufacturing processes; however, some synthetic diamonds (whether formed by HPHT or CVD) have properties such as hardness, thermal conductivity and electron mobility that are superior to those of most naturally-formed diamonds. Learn about diamond buying guide.

Synthetic diamond is widely used in abrasives, in cutting and polishing tools and in heat sinks. Electronic applications of synthetic diamond are being developed, including high-power switches at power stations, high-frequency field-effect transistors and light-emitting diodes. Synthetic diamond detectors of ultraviolet (UV) light or high-energy particles are used at high-energy research facilities and are available commercially. Because of its unique combination of thermal and chemical stability, low thermal expansion and high optical transparency in a wide spectral range, synthetic diamond is becoming the most popular material for optical windows in high-power CO₂ lasers and gyrotrons. It is estimated that 98% of industrial grade diamond demand is supplied with synthetic diamonds.

Both CVD and HPHT diamonds can be cut into gems and various colors can be produced: clear white, yellow, brown, blue, green and orange. The appearance of synthetic gems on the market created major concerns in the diamond trading business, as a result of which special spectroscopic devices and techniques have been developed to distinguish synthetic and natural diamonds.

Gemstones

Synthetic diamonds for use as gemstones are grown by HPHT or CVD methods. They are available in yellow and blue, and to a lesser extent colorless (or white). The yellow color comes from nitrogen impurities in the manufacturing process, while the blue color comes from boron. Other colors, such as pink or green, are achievable after synthesis using irradiation. Several companies also offer memorial diamonds grown using cremated remains.

Gem-quality diamonds grown in a lab can be chemically, physically and optically identical (and sometimes superior) to naturally occurring ones. The mined diamond industry has undertaken legal, marketing and distribution countermeasures to protect its market from the emerging presence of synthetic diamonds. Man-made diamonds can be distinguished by spectroscopy in the infrared, ultraviolet, or X-ray wavelengths. The DiamondView tester from De Beers uses UV fluorescence to detect trace impurities of nitrogen, nickel or other metals in HPHT or CVD diamonds.

At least one maker of laboratory-grown diamonds has made public statements about being "committed to disclosure" of the nature of its diamonds, and laser-inscribes serial numbers on all of its gemstones. The company web site shows an example of the lettering of one of its laser inscriptions, which includes both the words "Gemesis created" and the serial number prefix "LG" (laboratory grown).

Properties

Traditionally, the absence of crystal flaws is considered to be the most important quality of a diamond. Purity and high crystalline perfection make diamonds transparent and clear, whereas its hardness, optical dispersion (luster) and chemical stability (combined with marketing), make it a popular gemstone. High thermal conductivity is also important for technical applications. Whereas high optical dispersion is an intrinsic property of all diamonds, their other properties vary depending on how the diamond was created.

Crystallinity

Diamond can be one single, continuous crystal or it can be made up of many smaller crystals (polycrystal). Large, clear and transparent single-crystal diamonds are typically used in gemstones. Polycrystalline diamond (PCD) consists of numerous small grains, which are easily seen by the naked eye through strong light absorption and scattering; it is unsuitable for gems and is used for industrial applications such as mining and cutting tools. Polycrystalline diamond is often described by the average size (or grain size) of the crystals that make it up. Grain sizes range from nanometers to hundreds of micrometers, usually referred to as "nanocrystalline" and "microcrystalline" diamond, respectively.

Hardness

Synthetic diamond is the hardest material known, where hardness is defined as resistance to scratching and is graded between 1 (softest) and 10 (hardest) using the Mohs scale of mineral hardness. Diamond has a hardness of 10 (hardest) on this scale. The hardness of synthetic diamond depends on its purity, crystalline perfection and orientation: hardness is higher for flawless, pure crystals oriented to the [111] direction (along the longest diagonal of the cubic diamond lattice). Nanocrystalline diamond produced through CVD diamond growth can have a hardness ranging from 30% to 75% of that of single crystal diamond, and the hardness can be controlled for specific applications. Some synthetic single-crystal diamonds and HPHT nanocrystalline diamonds are harder than any known natural diamond.

Impurities and inclusions

Every diamond contains atoms other than carbon in concentrations detectable by analytical techniques. Those atoms can aggregate into macroscopic phases called inclusions. Impurities are generally avoided, but can be introduced intentionally as a way to control certain properties of the diamond. For instance, pure diamond is an electrical insulator, but diamond with boron added is an electrical conductor (and, in some cases, a superconductor), allowing it to be used in electronic applications. Nitrogen impurities hinder movement of lattice dislocations (defects within the crystal structure) and put the lattice under compressive stress, thereby increasing hardness and toughness.

Thermal conductivity

Unlike most electrical insulators, pure diamond is a good conductor of heat because of the strong covalent bonding within the crystal. The thermal conductivity of pure diamond is the highest of any known solid. Single crystals of synthetic diamond enriched in 12C (99.9%), isotopically pure diamond, have the highest thermal conductivity of any material, 30 W/cm·K at room temperature, 7.5 times higher than copper. Natural diamond's conductivity is reduced by 1.1% by the 13C naturally present, which acts as an inhomogeneity in the lattice.

Diamond's thermal conductivity is made use of by jewelers and gemologists who may employ an electronic thermal probe to separate diamonds from their imitations. These probes consist of a pair of battery-powered thermistors mounted in a fine copper tip. One thermistor functions as a heating device while the other measures the temperature of the copper tip: if the stone being tested is a diamond, it will conduct the tip's thermal energy rapidly enough to produce a measurable temperature drop. This test takes about 2–3 seconds.

Diamond Labs Documentary- TRANSCRIPT

NARRATOR (NEIL PEARSON): Diamonds are the most prestigious of all gems, originally the domain of royalty diamonds bring glamour, sophistication and class. But diamonds are so rare in nature they don’t come cheap.

JEREMY NORRIS (David Morris International): This is the classic ten-carat emerald cut which I’m sure every woman would love to own and that’s around six hundred and fifty thousand dollars.

NARRATOR: But how would you feel if you could get your hands on top quality merchandise for a fraction of the price? We’re not talking about fakes, but diamonds grown in a lab.

Prof BOB HAZEN (Mineral Scientist, Carnegie Trust): Synthesising diamonds, they’ve been a holy grail. For physicists, for chemists, for two hundred years people had tried to make diamonds and they had failed.

NARRATOR: The possibility of being able to mass produce high quality diamonds has sent shock waves through the multi-billion dollar diamond industry.

MARTIN RAPAPORT (Publisher, Rapaport Diamond Report): What if there is a way to synthesise diamonds that are non-detectable from natural diamonds? What if technology uses the ability to make these synthetic diamond and no one knows it’s synthetic?

NARRATOR: This is the story of the diamond makers, and how one day these fabulous gemstones may become available to us all.

NARRATOR: On the outskirts of Boston, hidden away in a secret lab, a father and son team were hoping to become fabulously rich. They were trying to grow in their laboratory the most valuable gemstone known to man. No one knew if it would work.

Dr ROBERT LINARES (Apollo Diamond): Following growth you always put the diamond in to a, an acid bath, to clean off any graphite that’s on the surface. So we put this, these in, left it over the weekend.

NARRATOR: They had spent years refining their technique, but so far every attempt had failed. But checking in on that Monday morning Robert Linares noticed something very odd. At first it seemed that not only had the experiment failed but the diamond had disappeared completely.

Dr ROBERT LINARES: Came down on Monday and we didn’t see the diamond there. We saw nothing. And then we looked further and we noticed that the crystal was there. But it was perfectly transparent, it was perfectly colourless. It was like someone had pulled a hood off of our heads and we could see the truth. And at that moment we knew we had crossed a huge barrier and we could now make very perfect diamonds.

NARRATOR: Robert Linares had achieved something that had eluded science for centuries. He had made a gem quality diamond to rival the very best found in nature. A breakthrough so astonishing that it might revolutionise the multi-billion dollar diamond market. Diamonds are the ultimate statement of luxury, glittering and sexy they’ve never gone out of fashion. Even today there are plenty of women who believe diamonds are a girl’s best friend.

STEPHEN LUSSIER (De Beers): Our job as marketers is not to make women want diamonds I can tell you, they want them before we start, our job is just to help them to get them. I talk to enough women around the world about diamonds to know what it is that they, that they dream about. They dream about owning a piece of eternity.

NARRATOR: What makes diamonds so special is that they sparkle like no other gemstone.

MARTIN RAPAPORT: It has that unique combination of life and brilliance and class, it really makes you feel special when you're looking at it.

NARRATOR: Such is the allure of these rocks that people go to extraordinary lengths to get their hands on them.

NEWS READER: Good evening, five men who tried to pull off the biggest robbery in history were jailed today for a total of seventy four years, when they tried to steal two hundred million pounds worth of diamonds on display at the Millennium Dome. They got as far as smashing a supposedly bombproof display case, but the flying squad knew all about the plot and they were waiting in ambush. One said I was only twelve inches from payday, it would have been a blinding Christmas.

NARRATOR: Diamonds occur naturally in the ground, but digging them out is immensely difficult. With mines located in some of the world’s most inhospitable places, it’s a dangerous and very expensive business. You have to shift over two hundred tonnes of rock for every carat of diamond. But ironically diamonds, for all their fire and sparkle are actually just a very hard version of an extremely common element, diamond is nothing more than a lump of carbon. In nature pure carbon is more readily found in a different form as soft black graphite.

Prof BOB HAZEN (Mineral Scientist, Carnegie Institute): You see these structures couldn’t be more different, you have graphite which is a beautifully layered structure, it has layers of carbon atoms, separated by very weak bonds. Now within the layers each carbon atom is beautifully coordinated to three other carbons, and that leads to very strong layers. But the bonding between the layers are exceptionally weak.

NARRATOR: But if that bonding is rearranged something remarkable occurs.

Prof BOB HAZEN: By contrast diamond is the hardest material known, and it’s hard because of the way it’s bonded together. This three-dimensional linkage in which every carbon atom is surrounded by four neighbours. And if one is a complete three-dimensional structure, you know a structure can only be as strong as its weakest direction, and in diamonds there are no weak directions. Every bond is almost as strong as a bond can be.

NARRATOR: The difference between the two forms of carbon is so subtle that scientists have searched for ways of transforming cheap graphite in to much more valuable diamond.

Prof BOB HAZEN: Synthesising diamonds had been a holy grail for physicists, for chemists, for two hundred years people had tried to make diamonds and they had failed.

NARRATOR: That two centuries long quest began with a worldwide hunt for clues. The very first came from the way diamonds were formed in nature. It’s believed that diamonds are created two hundred kilometres beneath the earth’s surface, and that they can take millions or even billions of years to form. It’s then during rare and exceptionally violent volcanic eruptions that diamonds are blasted to the surface within a rock called kimberlite.

Prof BOB HAZEN: Finding diamonds in kimberlite gave hints to how diamonds were formed. It told you you needed high temperature and high pressure because that’s where the kimberlites came from, this volcanic rock from deep in the earth.

NARRATOR: The task facing would be diamond makers was to mimic the vast pressures and savage temperatures found deep in the earth, and to do it, not over millions of years, but in days. No one got close until the 1950s, working in the greatest secrecy in the engineering company General Electric, a team of American scientists took up the challenge. They aimed to create diamond from graphite. GE spent millions of dollars developing a gigantic four hundred tonne diamond press. It produced pressures up to sixty thousand atmospheres and temperatures topping three thousand Celsius. But they were making little headway.

Dr HERBERT STRONG (Former GE scientist): Thoughts very much worked on, on, on trying to convert graphite, or carbon in to diamonds. Well, going straight from graphite to diamond didn’t, didn’t work.

NARRATOR: For four years all they got was broken presses. There was something missing in their chemistry so they looked for new clues. In a meteorite crater in Arizona diamonds had been discovered encased in a substance called troilte, or iron sulphite. These diamonds were formed by the high pressure and temperatures created during impact. The GE scientists believed that troyalite might be the missing ingredient needed to convert graphite in to diamond. So they had another go.

Dr TRACY HALL (Former GE scientist): It was a wintry day, it was cold but the sun was shining through the window. And I had put some troyalite in this graphite tube, I put it in my apparatus, I turned up my heating system and I put the pressure on.

FOOTAGE VOICE OVER: The force builds up and up and up, eventually reaching nearly five hundred tonne, almost one million pounds per square inch, the outer surfaces reached seven hundred and fifty degrees Fahrenheit. Inside two thousand six hundred degrees Fahrenheit.

NARRATOR: They could only risk running their machines for a few minutes, but they hoped it would be enough. Then just as they’d done dozens of times before they broke open the capsule.

Dr TRACY HALL: I got down to the point where I picked things apart and got to look at what’s there in the middle. And my eyes caught a gleam of the sun shining on these things. And I twiddled it around a little bit and saw the sparkles. My knees weakened, I had to sit down, I was overwhelmed. And at that instance I knew that man had finally turned graphite in to diamond.

Dr HERBERT STRONG: The headlines in all the newspapers around the world, it had G E making diamonds now. Wow it was just a very nice feeling that we had a tough problem and we had solved it, we had been challenged and we met the challenge and faced it and won.

NARRATOR: But for all this triumph GE’s diamonds were nowhere near good enough to adorn the neck of a movie star. Nevertheless their grit-sized grains didn’t go unnoticed in the boardroom of the most powerful diamond-producing cartel in the world. De Beers is the diamond industry, and it’s dominated the market for well over one hundred years.

STEPHEN LUSSIER: We’ll sell in the neighbourhood of five billion dollars worth of rough diamonds. I would have thought a figure north of a hundred million carats a year total rough production. Somewhere between fifty and sixty percent of the world’s supply.

NARRATOR: From their headquarters in central London De Beers’ rough diamonds are sorted and distributed around the world. Sold to select dealers for cutting and polishing. For years De Beers have maintained extraordinary levels of control on the sixty billion dollar global diamond market. Initially they didn’t see the arrival of manmade diamonds as a threat, they were just too low quality, fit for only making industrial cutting tools. However De Beers did see potential danger in the future if diamond-making technology improved. So at a discreet facility on the outskirts of London, De Beers created the Gem Defensive program. At vast cost the new scientific division was set up to develop techniques to distinguish between natural and synthetic diamonds.

STEPHEN LUSSIER: Clearly we knew that some day synthetic gems would be made available in the consumer market. The crucial thing for us was to make sure that first the industry but more importantly in the end consumer had every means possible to ensure we could detect the simulant from the genuine article.

NARRATOR: With their scientists busy working away De Beers were confident they had time in hand to prepare for any future threats. But unknown to De Beers a challenge already existed hidden away behind the iron curtain. With the break up of the Soviet Union Russian scientists were keen to explore the new ideals of capitalism. In the early 90s on the outskirts of Moscow diamond scientists Dr Boris Feigelson set up a lab in rooms rented from the Institute of the Blind.

Dr BORIS FEIGELSON - TRANSLATION (Diamond scientist): I had hopes, I even had dreams about it. That was at the time when things started to happen.

NARRATOR: His original idea was to copy General Electric’s theory of high pressure and high temperature. But instead of tiny grains he planned to grow gem size diamonds. But he just didn’t have the right gear. With little money he had to use whatever equipment came to hand. His first attempts were wrought with danger.

Dr BORIS FEIGELSON - TRANSLATION: We had to select the right material and the right parts for the press. Because if it was set up wrongly then it was quite possible that there would be an explosion, every thing would come flying out at high pressure.

NARRATOR: In the end in contrast to the giant machines used by General Electric, Feigelson cobbled together a diamond press not much bigger than a washing machine. At its heart was a small spherical growth chamber which used a unique method to create the required high pressure. Pumping oil around the sphere created a moderate hydraulic pressure. This was then amplified through specially shaped steel anvils to create a massive fifty eight thousand atmospheres down at the central core. But at first he still wasn’t getting the goods.

Dr BORIS FEIGELSON - TRANSLATION: When we thought we understood everything, everything was clear. Then something emerged, something no one predicted, and everything fell through.

NARRATOR: Feigelson decided to try an old crystal-growing trick and give his diamond a head start. Within the growth core he added a tiny piece of low quality grit diamond. He hoped this would act as a seed on which the growing diamond could form, above it was a metal solvent and a layer of graphite. He then applied an electric current to heat the top of the chamber. This dissolved the graphite in to the metal solvent releasing the carbon atoms, the carbon atoms migrated through the molten solvent to the cooler end of the capsule, where they crystallised on to the diamond seed making it grow.

Dr BORIS FEIGELSON - TRANSLATION: We managed to get sometimes quite good crystals, but more often the results were not good.

NARRATOR: Feigelson’s diamonds had telltale signs which would betray their manmade origins. They often contained small fragments of metal.

Dr BORIS FEIGELSON - TRANSLATION: It was clear to us that we had to refine the chemistry and stabilise the heating process as much as possible.

NARRATOR: Feigelson eventually discovered that by controlling the critical temperatures within the growth core in a very precise manner he could dramatically improve the quality of his diamonds. His diamond growing technique was still not consistent but Feigelson had realised his dream. But there was something else about his diamonds, something that made them potentially of extraordinary value. His diamonds weren’t crystal clear, they were coloured.

Dr BORIS FEIGELSON - TRANSLATION: When we got our first good crystal we were naturally absolutely overwhelmed.

NARRATOR: Coloured diamonds are found in nature but they’re extremely rare, among their number are the great legends of the diamond world, like the Hope diamond, the Dresden Green, the Tiffany Yellow, and the recently unveiled Blue Empress. Fancy coloured diamonds are highly prized and they’re hideously expensive. Only the finest jewellers stock natural coloured diamonds. Jeremy Morris has been in the family business for twenty years.

JEREMY MORRIS: Wealthy people have the market for vivid and fancy intense colour diamonds, it’s not for the average person, the price is prohibitive, unfortunately. This stone here is, it’s a little freak of nature, it’s six carat, deep brownish, orangey yellow, but that would be around three hundred thousand dollars. One-carat twenty-five, vivid orangey yellow, dazzlingly beautiful, thirty eight thousand pounds. We have here a twenty-five carat light pink one and a half million dollars, or nearest offer.

NARRATOR: The lucrative trade in fancy coloured diamonds was a market the Russian diamond makers were keen to exploit.

Prof BOB HAZEN: It’s possible to make duplicate Hope diamonds or red diamonds or yellow diamonds or green diamonds, all different sorts of colours of diamonds just by controlling the right impurity, a slight change in the chemical mix that goes in to making these diamonds.

NARRATOR: But if the diamond makers were going to stand any chance of selling their rocks first they had to convince the diamond dealers of the West. Every year Las Vegas hosts one of the world’s largest gem fairs, where thousands of dealers sell their wares to jewellers from around the world. In 1999 coloured synthetic diamonds coming out of Russia were show cased here for the first time.

MARTIN RAPAPORT: Just today we had here at the show a large selection of synthetic diamonds presented and shown to us in a riot of fancy colours, you're talking about blue stones that look like one hundred thousand dollar per carat stones, very nice stones.

NARRATOR: Lured by the dream of fabulous wealth diamond labs had sprung up all over Russia. As a middleman for synthetic diamonds Alex Grizenko had been drawn to Vegas.

ALEX GRIZENKO: Through the last several years we have been looking at what the potential market could actually be. Today the market is truly in its infant, infant stage. And as demand grows, and demand has to grow, this market has to be created, and as demand grows so will supply, inevitably, it will be a big market.

NARRATOR: But back in 1999 the prospect of a world flooded by synthetic Russian diamonds actually seemed remote. Their labs lacked the funds and the necessary production skills.

ALEX GRIZENKO (Synthetic diamond dealer): The Russians certainly have problems today, we all understand that. Capital is scarce, infrastructure is in some places complicated, capital investments in to Russia today are difficult.

NARRATOR: But a chance meeting was about to change all that. Like something out of a James Bond movie a Russian scientist made a cautious approach to a former US army general. It was to be a fateful encounter.

General CARTER CLARKE (The Gemesis Corporation): I was in Moscow on another project, developing an electronic security device, and one of the scientists on the project asked me whether or not I was interested in diamond. And I said well I’m an entrepreneur, I’m interested in most anything. Frankly I thought he was going to ask me to invest in some diamond-mining project. But instead he took me to a facility outside of Moscow and they, they showed me a machine that they claimed would make diamonds.

NARRATOR: General Carter Clarke was intrigued. But even though he decided to fork out one hundred and seventy thousand dollars for three units, he was quite sceptical that the Russian machines could make anything at all.

General CARTER CLARKE: The machines they had in Russia were doing experimental work, and there’s a big gap between a laboratory type of operations and a commercial production. We really had to bring good old Yankee ingenuity in to being in order to make this a viable business.

NARRATOR: So he brought the whole operation back to his native Florida, there he set up shop as the Gemesis Corporation, his ultimate plan to mass produce synthetic diamonds. But straight away it was clear the Russian machines just weren’t doing the business.

General CARTER CLARKE: They were able to get a crystal once in a while but not all the time, they couldn’t get the size we wanted, they couldn’t get the colour we wanted, couldn’t get the consistency we wanted, couldn’t get the yield we wanted. The whole idea of the growth process had to be rethought.

NARRATOR: So General Clarke enlisted the help of scientist from the University of Florida, Dr Rob Chodelka identified the problem, too much human intervention.

Dr ROB CHODELKA (The Gemesis Corporation): When the machines initially came over, one of the large problems were they were manually operated. There was a person sitting in front of that machine twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, while that machine was running, controlling the principle properties for that machine to operate, the pressure and the temperature. We wanted to remove the human error associated with running and operating this machine, so we could produce a product on a consistent basis. That was we had to computer control it.

NARRATOR: The University scientists attempted to automate the growth process entirely, no one had tried this before, but eventually they managed to convert the machines. Using their updated design Clarke’s technicians started building their own presses, ultimately creating the world’s first gem diamond production line. Each of his twenty-three machines could then be prepared and loaded in minutes, now it was simple case of pressing start and waiting for the machine to do in four days what nature does in four million years.

Dr ROB CHODELKA: It’s a short period of time, about eighty-two hours, is our heat compressured cycle, and in that time we use about fourteen hundred watts of power, equivalent to a hairdryer running at the same time.

NARRATOR: After each machine finished its run the growth cores were extracted. They were then cracked open to reveal a small lump of metal which contained the diamond. These were then each washed in acid baths to dissolve away the metal, revealing the newly formed rough diamond. Clarke was finally on his way to achieving his goal, he was now producing fancy yellow diamonds, far superior in size and quality to anything ever created in the Russian labs.

General CARTER CLARKE: Initially we were growing stones that were less than two carats, roughly about one point five, one point six and one point seven carats. Now we’re growing three to three and a half carats, and that will cut and polish to a stones that’s almost two carats, but depending on the cut that you want. We’re also getting a better colour, before we used to get a washed out yellow, now we get a nice vivid or intense yellow.

NARRATOR: Until now it had only been the ‘über rich’ who could afford natural coloured diamonds. Clarke dreamt of taking his coloured diamonds out on to the high street.

General CARTER CLARKE: These diamonds from nature are very expensive, a one carat, vivid yellow diamond would go somewhere between fifteen and twenty thousand dollars. Our comparable stone would go somewhere around four thousand dollars.

NARRATOR: Admittedly not for everyone’s pocket, but high quality synthetic stones selling for a quarter of the price of naturals sent ripples across the diamond pond. For the first time there was a real threat of synthetic gem quality diamonds flooding the market, and undermining the traditional diamond trade.

MARTIN RAPAPORT: The concern in the industry today is what if, just what if there is a way to synthesise diamonds that are non-detectable from natural diamonds? What if technology uses the ability to make this synthetic diamond and no one knows this is synthetic?

NARRATOR: This possibility was not lost on the world’s largest diamond trading company, De Beers. Unless they could respond decisively they might lose their dominance of the market. Their first tactic, simply dismiss the competition, unless it came out of the ground it just wasn't the real thing.

STEPHEN LUSSIER: Diamonds are just so much more than just crystallised carbon, diamonds are something from our, from our deep, deep past, billions of years old, a miracle of nature, you can't replicate that in a laboratory yesterday in, in Florida, it’s not possible.

NARRATOR: De Beers gem defence program then sprang in to action. Millions of dollars had been spent developing various machines to tell synthetics from the natural stones. The problem they faced was that synthetics were now very high quality, it forced them to study down to the diamond’s atomic structure, to detect even the tiniest differences.

Dr SIMON LAWSON (Gem Defensive Projects, De Beers): This instrument is Diamond Sure, it’s our rapid screening instrument that’s been designed to pass natural diamonds, whilst at the same time referring all synthetic diamonds.

NARRATOR: Diamond Sure works by analysing the way light is absorbed by a diamond. It’s down to how nitrogen impurities form within the crystal. Nitrogen atoms occur in clumps in ninety eight percent of all natural diamonds. This causes light to be absorbed in a specific way, and provides the key to their detection.

Dr SIMON LAWSON: This has got a pass result, the user can be confident that this is a natural diamond, and requires no further testing. I’m now going to place a yellow diamond on to the probe, press the test key, and this time within a few seconds it’s come up with a different result, it said refer for further tests.

NARRATOR: In yellow synthetic diamonds nitrogen doesn’t exist in clumps, but instead as single atoms, dispersed throughout the crystal, this causes light to be absorbed differently, which is picked up by the machine. Any questionable stones then get transferred to De Beers’ next line of defence, the Diamond View machine.

Dr SIMON LAWSON: Diamond View shines ultraviolet light on to the diamond and generates a surface florescence image from which synthetics may be unambiguously identified.

NARRATOR: Under ultraviolet light both natural and synthetic diamonds will glow to some degree, this is called fluorescence. But it’s the patterns that are revealed by this glowing fluorescence that can tell the two apart.

Dr SIMON LAWSON: It’s immediately obvious from the strong blocky blue fluorescence patterns that this is a synthetic. You wouldn’t get these strong shapes of blue florescence from a natural.

NARRATOR: Under the UV light natural yellow diamonds look very different, producing a consistent yet very faint blue glow. With technology like this De Beers feels it can out rightly dismiss the threat of synthetics.

STEPHEN LUSSIER: Today we can, you know, easily detect each and every synthetic stones that’s made. That’s really important to maintain industry confidence.

NARRATOR: De Beers were able to prevent any lab grown coloured gems from being passed off as natural diamonds. No synthetics could trick their way in to De Beers multi-billion dollar industry. But none of this phases General Clarke, he’s starting to make serious headway in to creating his own industry for synthetic diamonds. The key to Clarke’s business plan is that he doesn’t intend to compete against De Beers.

GENERAL CARTER CLARKE: We do not want our diamonds to be passed off as natural diamonds. That wouldn’t do us any good, would not do the industry any good, and certainly would not do the consumer any good. So we’re very strong in our concern about that, and we’re taking every measure that we can to prevent that.

NARRATOR: All his diamonds are sent to the heart of the diamond district in New York City, to the International Gemological Institute. Here they are officially certified as being manmade. They are also subjected to a more invasive level of disclosure, and have their origin tattooed on them by laser. General Clarke’s aim is to establish an entirely new market of affordable coloured synthetic gems. Currently producing two hundred diamonds a month Clarke has grand plans for massive expansion.

GENERAL CARTER CLARKE: We have twenty-three machines in this facility right now, are growing diamonds twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. And what our ambition is, is to fill this whole environment here with about two hundred and fifty machines in the not too distant future.

NARRATOR: Clarke’s plan would create an annual production of twenty five thousand high quality synthetic yellow diamonds. In the nearby town of Sarasota on the west coast of Florida his diamonds are already on sale.

KARL SHRODE (Jeweller): They’re absolutely beautiful, you couldn’t ask for more beautiful stones. It makes it for more everyday people to be able to afford beautiful fancy coloured diamonds.

NARRATOR: It’s too early to say if Clarke’s new market of coloured synthetic diamonds will ever pose a serious financial threat to De Beers. His output at the moment is just too small. And anyway for De Beers it’s the clear colourless diamonds that are the main thrust of their global empire, and that market was completely unthreatened, or so they thought. Shrouded in utmost secrecy a company called Apollo Diamond has been operating somewhere outside Boston, Massachusetts for the last two years. Highly protective of their technology they have rarely granted access to their laboratory. Horizon was never given the address, just taken to their production facility. The company’s founder, Dr Robert Linares, had never intended to get in to the diamond business. His interest had always been in semi-conductors.

Dr ROBERT LINARES: Previous company was manufacturing gallium arsenate wafers for very high frequency devices such as cell phones and radars, and at the time that was the ultimate semi-conductor. And after I left that company, I sold it, I want to go to the next highest performance semi-conductor and that was going to be diamond.

NARRATOR: Diamond has some unique properties that make it a material with all sorts of possibilities for the high tech industries.

Dr ROBERT LINARES: It’s the hardest material known to man. It has a highest velocity of sound, it has a highest thermal conductivity, and it has semi-conductor properties which exceed that of silicone and other materials.

BRYANT LINARES (Apollo Diamond): The real thrust is to develop new single crystal diamond technology and to create the ability to grow large diamonds for a semi-conductor and optical application.

NARRATOR: But it was while striving to meet these goals that they stumbled upon something utterly unforeseen and ultimately much more glamorous.

BRYANT LINARES: We’re actually seeing diamonds now that really have the ability to become diamond gem cells.

NARRATOR: In their mission to make semi-conductors they had discovered how to make clear colourless diamond.

BRYANT LINARES: It was a Eureka moment for this company, where we recognised that we could really do something tremendous in this sixty billion dollar market place.

NARRATOR: The Linares adopted a completely different approach to other gem diamond makers. A technique called chemical vapour deposition, or CVD. Unlike previous methods of growing diamonds it didn’t need high pressure or graphite, and was based on using two very common gasses.

Dr ROBERT LINARES: CVD diamond is done at very low pressures, less than one atmosphere. And you introduce two gasses, you introduce hydrogen and methane.

NARRATOR: But before the process could begin what they needed was a seed for each new diamond to grow on. These seeds were made of thin slivers of low-grade diamond. In preparation for growth they were sliced and shaped using a high power laser.

PATRICK DOERING (Apollo Diamond): When we have the prepared seeds we then load them in to the machine and what our process can do, is capable of doing is growing on multiple seeds at a time. We can load twenty-five, fifty seeds at a time, and really how many seeds we put in depends on the size of the individual seeds.

NARRATOR: When the growth chamber was closed the pressure was lowered and the seeds heated to around eight hundred Celsius. Hydrogen and methane were pumped in to the chamber, then using high power microwaves the mixture was ignited forming a gas plasma. Within this chemical soup highly reactive hydrogen atoms collided with the methane molecules releasing carbon atoms. These atoms were then attracted down to bond with the carbon atoms of the diamond seeds, and so the new diamonds grew, atom by atom. But initially there was a hitch, others had tried CVD but could only produce thin wafers of diamond, nothing like the thickness needed to create a gemstone.

Dr ROBERT LINARES: It was commonly thought by scientists around the world that you could never make diamond by the CVD process that was greater than fifteen microns thick, that’s far less than the thickness of a hair. We discovered how to cross that barrier, we discovered it for a couple of reasons, one of which was we had to because we were basing our future business on making single crystal that was thick. And once we figured out how to do it we very quickly went to a half a millimetre thick, one millimetre thick, three millimetres thick, five millimetres thick.

NARRATOR: To this day Robert Linares has not revealed the secrets of his technique, but within his machine he could now effectively watch three million years of diamond growth happening before his eyes. But there was something else, his diamonds had a clarity and structure unrivalled by any other synthetic process.

BRYANT LINARES: The gem diamonds that we make here at Apollo are very perfect. And they have the capability of being the most perfect diamonds that we have seen on the planet. The Naval research department here in the United States has called them the most perfect diamonds that they’ve ever seen, both manmade or natural.

NARRATOR: Finally scientists were not just able to match nature but make something even more perfect, and available at a fraction of the cost. It was the first serious threat to the traditional market in clear diamonds. De Beers’ scientists were now facing their ultimate test. Never before had they come against a cheap synthetic diamond that might be more brilliant than a natural one. If they couldn’t detect these new colourless stones then consumer confidence in their natural diamonds could take a hammering. Using their Diamond Sure device the clear CVD diamond was recognised as an unusual stone, but it still required further tests.

Dr SIMON LAWSON: Ok this is a colourless stones that has been referred by the Diamond Sure instrument, at this stage we don’t know whether it’s synthetic or one of the rare types of natural diamond, so I’m going to place it in to the stone holder and slide it in to the sample chamber of Diamond View. Focus the visible image on to the table of the stone. And now I’m going to shine the ultraviolet light on to the stone. This stone exhibits extremely intense orange florescence, which is a characteristic of CVD diamond. Natural diamonds would typically show a blue florescence.

NARRATOR: De Beers are confident in the ability of their equipment to detect these new colourless diamonds, they’ve sent their detection kit to gem labs around the world. But the question is will that be enough to protect them in the long run? Typically only diamonds above a certain size and quality are actually sent to labs for testing. The majority of us by tiny diamonds from high street jewellers, and while they may be precious to us diamonds so small are rarely sent to labs. The cost of testing them can be greater than their actual market value. As a result the authenticity of small stones, once in the market place, may never be questioned. This is an entirely new challenge to De Beers, but they are adamant they will do anything to keep their market safe.

STEPHEN LUSSIER: Maintaining consumer confidence in diamonds is worth any price that the De Beers group needs to spend to ensure it is there. You know the diamond to a consumer is a precious thing. They want to buy it with confidence, they want to know what it is, and anything we can do to help that we will do.

NARRATOR: But the fact is high quality synthetic diamonds now exist, and have the same fire and brilliance as naturals. Driven by the likes of Gemesis and Apollo Diamond creating brand new markets we now have the opportunity to buy synthetic diamonds. The only issue is whether you’d want to. Or do you think a diamond is worth more if it comes out of the ground?

MARTIN RAPAPORT: The only problem you’d have with synthetic diamonds is they’re not going to be as rare and they’re not going to be as special. I mean I could give you a Mona Lisa, it would be an exact copy of one, it would be fantastic, but the real thing is the real thing, and that brings out a very special feeling.

GENERAL CARTER CLARKE: You know if an orchid is grown in a hot steamy jungle in Central America or it’s grown in a hot house in California it’s still an orchid, it’s still very beautiful, women will love to have it and they don’t really care where it comes from.

JEREMY NORRIS: Where’s the romance when you, when you have a yellow diamond and you give it to your loved one you go, she’ll go wow that’s amazing, and you go yeah you know this is, this is a man grown diamond, and it’s like why didn’t you buy me a real one?

NARRATOR: It’s too soon to say if synthetic diamonds will catch on or if they’ll undermine the trade in natural diamonds. But there’s now a genuine chance that one day it could happen.

Evaluation and Identification of Jade Jewelry: Fake or Genuine?