Color is one of the value determining factors in diamond, in research natural and treated diamonds can be measured in the spectral range of 400-750 nm. Interesting wavelengths can be found in the absorption spectrum at 415 nm and 478 nm (Type Ia diamond natural diamond), where artificial diamonds show no absorption peaks. For treated diamonds artificial coloring can be measured at a wavelength of 592 or 741 nm. The value difference between a natural and treated diamond may be as high as a factor 10. Of course other gem stones may be measured as well, like ruby, alexandrite, sapphire, etc.
A typical setup for gem stone measurements is given below:
Components used in the gemology setup are depicted in the following table:
Spectrometer
AvaSpec- 2048
Grating VA (360-1100nm), 25µm slit, DCL-UV, OSC
Software
AvaSoft-Full
Lightsource
AvaLight-HAL halogen light source
Fiber optics
2 pcs. FC-UV600-2, UV/VIS, 2m, SMA
Accesories
AvaSphere-50-IRRAD Irradiance sphere
WS-2-GEM White reference tile with 10 mm radius hole, specially for gemstone measurement
AvaSphere-50-HOLD WS-2-GEM Tile holder for AvaSphere-50-REFL for gemology applications
Gemmology applications developed in alliance with IGI Antwerp.