This photograph shows a synthetic brilliant cut single-crystal diamond grown by chemical vapor deposition, CVD. About 2.5 mm high, this crystal was grown in about 1 day at Carnegie. The very bottom (table) of the crystal is a type 1b seed: hence the yellow tint which is due to internal reflection (the CVD diamond is transparent). [C.S. Yan et al., Physica Status Solidi (a) 201,R25 (2004)(PDF 288KB)]. The researchers have also reported that these CVD diamonds are capable of easily generating ultrahigh pressures to at least 200 GPa.[W.L. Mao et al., Appl. Phys. Lett. 83, 5190 (2003)(PDF 288KB)].

Credit: Image used with permission of Physica Status Solidi.