Synthetic diamond

A synthetic diamond or laboratory-grown diamond (LGD), also called a lab-grown, laboratory-created, man-made, artisan-created, artificial, or cultured diamond, is a diamond that is produced in a controlled technological process, in contrast to a naturally-formed diamond, which is created through geological processes and obtained by mining. Unlike diamond simulants (imitations of diamond made of superficially similar non-diamond materials), synthetic diamonds are composed of the same material as naturally formed diamonds—pure carbon crystallized in an isotropic 3D form—and have identical chemical and physical properties.

The maximal size of synthetic diamonds has increased dramatically in the 21st century. Before 2010, most synthetic diamonds were smaller than half a carat. Improvements in technology, plus the availability of larger diamond substrates, have led to synthetic diamonds up to 125 carats in 2025.

In 1797, English chemist Smithson Tennant demonstrated that diamonds are a form of carbon, and between 1879 and 1928, numerous claims of diamond synthesis were reported; most of these attempts were carefully analyzed, but none were confirmed. In the 1940s, systematic research of diamond creation began in the United States, Sweden and the Soviet Union, which culminated in the first reproducible synthesis in 1953. Further research activity led to the development of high pressure high temperature (HPHT) and chemical vapor deposition (CVD) methods of diamond production. These two processes still dominate synthetic diamond production. A third method in which nanometer-sized diamond grains are created in a detonation of carbon-containing explosives, known as detonation synthesis, entered the market in the late 1990s.

The properties of synthetic diamonds depend on the manufacturing process. Some have properties such as hardness, thermal conductivity and electron mobility that are superior to those of most naturally formed diamonds. 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 (LEDs). Synthetic diamond detectors of ultraviolet (UV) light and of high-energy particles are used at high-energy research facilities and are available commercially. Due to 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 CO
₂ 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 advent 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 from natural diamonds.

In the early stages of diamond synthesis, the founding figure of modern chemistry, Antoine Lavoisier, played a significant role. His groundbreaking discovery that a diamond's crystal lattice is similar to carbon's crystal structure paved the way for initial attempts to produce diamonds. After it was discovered that diamond was pure carbon in 1797, many attempts were made to convert various cheap forms of carbon into diamond. The earliest successes were reported by James Ballantyne Hannay in 1879 and by Ferdinand Frédéric Henri Moissan in 1893. Their method involved heating charcoal at up to 3,500 °C (6,330 °F) with iron inside a carbon crucible in a furnace. Whereas Hannay used a flame-heated tube, Moissan applied his newly developed electric arc furnace, in which an electric arc was struck between carbon rods inside blocks of lime. The molten iron was then rapidly cooled by immersion in water. The contraction generated by the cooling supposedly produced the high pressure required to transform graphite into diamond. Moissan published his work in a series of articles in the 1890s.

Many other scientists tried to replicate his experiments. Sir William Crookes claimed success in 1909. Otto Ruff claimed in 1917 to have produced diamonds up to 7 mm (0.28 in) in diameter, but later retracted his statement. In 1926, Dr. J. Willard Hershey of McPherson College replicated Moissan's and Ruff's experiments, producing a synthetic diamond. Despite the claims of Moissan, Ruff, and Hershey, other experimenters were unable to reproduce their synthesis.

The most definitive replication attempts were performed by Sir Charles Algernon Parsons. A prominent scientist and engineer known for his invention of the steam turbine, he spent about 40 years (1882–1922) and a considerable part of his fortune trying to reproduce the experiments of Moissan and Hannay, but also adapted processes of his own. Parsons was known for his painstakingly accurate approach and methodical record keeping; all his resulting samples were preserved for further analysis by an independent party. He wrote a number of articles—some of the earliest on HPHT diamond—in which he claimed to have produced small diamonds. However, in 1928, he authorized Dr. C. H. Desch to publish an article in which he stated his belief that no synthetic diamonds (including those of Moissan and others) had been produced up to that date. He suggested that most diamonds that had been produced up to that point were likely synthetic spinel.