Synthetic Diamond Testing Project

Early in 1995 we were on a roll with new product development and began looking into other areas for research and possible products. Our good friend and amazing Physics student Jamie Portsmouth was thinking of coming to Boston from England over the summer and was looking for something to keep him in beer over the summer. Synthetic diamonds of gem quality were just appearing and there was considerable worry over them in the gem world. Putting two and seven together we came up with a potential project of a new diamond tester which would differentiate natural from synthetic stones. It makes for some interesting reading, even if we never turned it into a product.

MY IDEAL DIAMOND TESTER

	Is the size of a Mont Blanc Pen or slightly larger.
	Easy to hold and use.
	Possibly made of metal (to be a metal detector if you are contacting the prong of a stone.) But I actually prefer nice plastic.
	Can be easily used by right handed and left handed people.
	Won't lose its ability to detect diamonds while testing a large number of stones at a time .
	Simple batteries with a long life. Rechargeable is OK.
	The point doesn't crunch down or scratch stones.
	If thermal conductivity is used it should not heat up in the hand.
	Oh yeah, it should detect diamonds and indicate by light.
	It should indicate a "not diamond '' because if it has no indication its not clear it's working. Possible by sound. Beeping.
	Low power indicator. Possible by sound .Continuous.

Mid-summer, my cat Loki wrote to Jamie's cat Honey about his progress ...

By the end of July he had produced a thorough report ...

And this was our conclusion on the product idea ...

Jamie recently pointed out some other interest in these notions using SAS2000 Raman photoluminescence spectroscopy by Marty Haske, president of Adamas Gemological Laboratories, Brookline, MA. (The report is mirrored in the link below)

Spelling corrections courtesy of Donald Heskett 03-04-05 ... Thanks, Don!