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Phosphorescence key to fingerprinting Hope Diamond

Date: 08-Jan-08
Author: Penn State University

Shine a white light on the Hope Diamond and it will dazzle you with the brilliance of an amazing blue diamond. Shine an ultraviolet light on the Hope Diamond and the gem will glow red-orange for about five minutes. This phosphorescent property of blue diamonds can distinguish synthetic and altered diamonds from the real thing, and it may also provide a way to fingerprint individual blue diamonds for identification purposes.

Other colors of diamonds do not phosphoresce, but fluoresce, emitting visible light only as long as they are stimulated with ultraviolet radiation. Blue diamonds that phosphoresce emit light even after the ultraviolet lamp is turned off. Unlike the Hope, however, most blue diamonds produce a bluish light rather than reddish light.

The Hope Diamond, on display at the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C. Courtesy: Smithsonian Institution

The Hope Diamond phosphoresces a fiery red color when exposed to ultraviolet light. Courtesy: John Nels Hatelberg / Smithsonian Institution

Full story: Hope Diamond's Phosphorescence Key To Fingerprinting

Related link:

• The Story of the Hope Diamond