As a long-time lapidarist, I find this quite exciting. I've long been fascinated by the geological processes which serve to create precious gems, but the prospect of being able to own C_d in any sizable quantity is not only cool, but rather practical.

New techniques developed by Gemesis and Apollo Diamond promise to make the manufacturing process fast and economical. The technology itself is nothing new, but it has been refined to the point of allowing large quantities of high-carat diamonds to be produced at a fraction of the cost. In the past, the process was expensive because it required extremely high temperatures and pressures and produced relatively low-quality diamonds. To improve efficiency, they reduced some 200 parameters to produce the optimal conditions for production.

At Gemesis, the Russian technology was overhauled and replaced by a mix of computers and high precision sensor arrays. They use a combination of high pressure and temperature to transform a small diamond 'seed' and some graphite into a diamond of up to 5 carats after 2-3 days.

Apollo Diamonds employs a more complicated system involving the conversion of methane and hydrogen into plasma states at very high temperatures, precipitating carbon atoms which are then deposited onto a wafer. An insightful comparison of the two processes may be found here.

The resulting diamonds are flawless, and indistinguishable from the real thing.

It's long been known that the diamond industry is controlled by a powerful few and the supply of diamonds heavily regulated to maintain artificially high prices for what is otherwise a relatively worthless, reasonably abundant commodity. When synthetic diamonds begin to appear on the market early next year, one might think this would spell doom for an industry reliant on shortage and extravagance. In fact, the technology may serve only to split the market in two: those who aspire to the mystery and grandour of a 'genuine' diamond, and those who will settle for a 'cultured' one. For there are certain connotations attached to buying a diamond: its cost is, oddly, what makes it so desirable.

Offering diamonds at a fraction of the cost will serve to make them much more accessible, which will in turn demystify much of the stigma surrounding this highly prized Carbonic incarnation. In the context of weddings, also, the nature of synthetic diamonds may not be suited to attract buyers: diamonds created 10 minutes ago by a machine tend not to symbolise 'eternal love' quite so effectively as something distilled by that most energetic of personifications, Mother Nature, over several hundred thousand years.

What we will see, I hope, is the proliferation of cheaper diamond-based products throughout the retail sector. Why purchase wine glasses when you can obtain one made of solid diamond for not much more? Diamonds also have many applications in technology: they make excellent conductors of heat (20.0Wcm^-1 compared with Copper, 3.80Wcm^-1, owing to the extensive covalent bonding extending throughout the crystal lattice structure. They are also incredibly strong, owing the four bonds linking each atom in three dimensions. The strong electrostatic attraction between valence shell Carbon electrons means diamonds could be used as portholes in undersea vehicles, structural reinforcement in satellites, buildings, avionics, etc. Their uniform transparency also lends itself well to usage as lenses in telescopes and optics equipment. Perhaps most importantly, however, there will finally be an unbreakable glass that doesn't taste like plastic!

Diamonds are, like silicon, semi-conductors; but because diamond has a much higher melting point, they are ideal for computer chips. The speed of current generation of silicon-based ICs is limited by thermal requirements: electrical signals degrade at high temperatures, and the chips become damaged easily. A diamond-based CPU, by contrast, could be clocked much higher before failure, and diamond-based cooling solutions could more easily transfer the heat away from the CPU core.

Could this spell the death of an industry? What kind of economic repurcussions could this have upon worldwide commodity trading? Share your thoughts in the 'Comments' section below.