Fluorescence question...

[flowerladytoo]

I''ve had my engagement diamond (.53,VS1,I color)for many years. It is an uncertified RB, and faces up very white, is beautiful (at least to me), and has a great sentimental value. The specs are from the insurance appraisal we got a couple months ago, when we had it reset, soon after our 25th anniversary.

I''ve suspected for awhile it might have fluorescence because it has sometimes looked blue outside in the bright sunshine. Today I remembered we had a black light type flashlight and when I turned it on my ring, sure enough it glowed, very bright blue, as did two of my pave stones on my wedding band (though not nearly as bright as my center stone). Thought that was pretty neat.

Tonight hubby wanted to see, so we turned off the lights and turned on the black light and sure enough, it glowed very bright blue. What I wonder about though is this....I accidentally turned off the black light (we were in a room with no windows so it was pitch black) and the stone kept glowing, even though the light was out, but now it was a bright yellow with a red/orange cast. It was REALLY bright at first. The room was pitch black. It kept glowing for at least 3 minutes, though it slowly got fainter and fainter. Kind of spooky, actually, but neat.

Is this common? Sorry, I know this is a newbie question, but I read through a lot of threads about fluorescence and didn''t see this mentioned, so I hope some experts can tell me what caused it to glow after the light was out, and if this is common. Thanks

 

[stone-cold11]

That is called phosphorescence and that is even more rare... You got a wonderful stone in my opinion...

Wish I had one like that, mine only fluorescence.

In colored diamonds, some speculates that it is the presence of phosphorescence that causes a diamond to change color over time, the chameleon diamond. Just some more information for you.

 

[Lorelei]

This is a photo of the Hope Diamond FL.

 

[Indira-London]

Oops I see that I am too slow compared to Lorelei and Stonecold - I started writing betwen answering calls and emails!

That's cool - your diamond is both phosphorescent as well as being fluorescent!
It is in good company - according to the GIA, the Hope diamond is a famous diamond that shows both fluorescence as well as phosphoresce - the Hope, fluoresces and phosphoresces red to short-wave UV.

If anyone is like me and likes to know more how these effects occur at a scientific level, here is the relevant section on phosphorescence from the GIA's much-quoted paper on fluorescence : http://lgdl.gia.edu/pdfs/W97_fluoresce.pdf

Fluorescence is a form of luminescence. For the purposes
of this paper, luminescence is defined as the emission
of light by a substance that has absorbed UV radiation.
A substance is fluorescent if the emission of light
stops when the energy source causing it is removed. (In
contrast, if a substance continues to glow after the
energy source is removed, it is phosphorescent.)
In a luminescent substance, the absorption of UV
radiation causes an electron to move from its stable
low-energy position (“ground state”) into a temporary
high-energy (“excited”) state (figure A-1). This highenergy
state is unstable, so the electron relaxes into a
lower-energy excited state that is slightly more stable.
As the electron falls back to the ground state, the substance
emits light. This emitted energy is always less
than excitation energy. Since wavelength increases as
energy decreases, emission occurs at longer wavelengths
than the excitation wavelength (again, see figure
A-1). Submicroscopic structures that allow this
movement of electrons are called luminescence centers.
These centers arise from certain defects in the
crystal lattice, such as electrically charged ions, or
atomic vacancies or substitutions (see Nassau, 1983;
Waychunas, 198.

 

[Lorelei]

Never too slow Indira and thanks for the info!

 

[flowerladytoo]

Thank you all for your replies. Phosphorescence! How neat!

Of course, after what my diamond did under the black light I had to get out all my jewelry and try the black light on it. My new OEC didn''t react at all. A few of the smaller diamonds in my rings and necklaces have blue fluorescence, and one stone actually looked orange, but only one tiny stone keeps glowing after the light is turned out, and it glows blue for just a few seconds.

My .53 diamond looks really reddish yellowish orange, kind of like a light tangerine, for a few seconds after the light goes out, then the red/orange hue disappears and the stone turns more of a bright yellow that very slowly fades away. I wish I could figure out how to get a good picture of it. I will experiment later this week and see if I can.

 

[Indira-London]

Thank you Lorelei - i love your Hope diamond photo...as well as your festive avatar.

Flowerlady - have fun with your experiments and we look forward to seeing pictures if you are able to capture the colours! i wonder how many more females would study science if experiments with jewellery-quality diamonds were part of the syllabus!

 

[beaujolais]

Anyone know (about) what percentage of stones fluoresce and what percentage phosphoresce?

 

[stone-cold11]

Pricescope articles states that about a third fluorescence.

Phosphorescence is even more rare than that, no numbers found though...

 

[Garry H (Cut Nut)]

warning warning warning
radioactive decay

Date: 11/18/2008 1:43:52 AM
Author:flowerladytoo
I've had my engagement diamond (.53,VS1,I color)for many years. It is an uncertified RB, and faces up very white, is beautiful (at least to me), and has a great sentimental value. The specs are from the insurance appraisal we got a couple months ago, when we had it reset, soon after our 25th anniversary.

I've suspected for awhile it might have fluorescence because it has sometimes looked blue outside in the bright sunshine. Today I remembered we had a black light type flashlight and when I turned it on my ring, sure enough it glowed, very bright blue, as did two of my pave stones on my wedding band (though not nearly as bright as my center stone). Thought that was pretty neat.

Tonight hubby wanted to see, so we turned off the lights and turned on the black light and sure enough, it glowed very bright blue. What I wonder about though is this....I accidentally turned off the black light (we were in a room with no windows so it was pitch black) and the stone kept glowing, even though the light was out, but now it was a bright yellow with a red/orange cast. It was REALLY bright at first. The room was pitch black. It kept glowing for at least 3 minutes, though it slowly got fainter and fainter. Kind of spooky, actually, but neat.

Is this common? Sorry, I know this is a newbie question, but I read through a lot of threads about fluorescence and didn't see this mentioned, so I hope some experts can tell me what caused it to glow after the light was out, and if this is common. Thanks

Just kidding, really you are very lucky to have experiance something few know about - cool huh?


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phosphorescence

 

[flowerladytoo]

Date: 11/18/2008 6:34:37 AM
Author: Garry H (Cut Nut)
warning warning warning

radioactive decay


Just kidding, really you are very lucky to have experiance something few know about - cool huh?



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phosphorescence

LOL! Too funny!

I guess my arm is going to fall off any day now...I''ve worn this diamond almost non stop for over 25 years

Maybe I should shine that black light on me, and see if I glow!

 

[Lorelei]

FLT, I would love to see some pics if you are able! I have a quick threadjack here, didn''t your avatar the other week have curling smoke coming out of the chimney? It was adorable!

 

[bgray]

wow-how lucky you are to have something so unusual and special! I love fluorescence..................but to have both is really something!

 

[Kelli]

You have a really cool stone! Lucky you!

 

[flowerladytoo]

Date: 11/18/2008 7:38:08 AM
Author: Lorelei
FLT, I would love to see some pics if you are able! I have a quick threadjack here, didn''t your avatar the other week have curling smoke coming out of the chimney? It was adorable!

Hubby is picking up batteries so maybe later tonight or tomorrow. I hope this is easier to capture than photographing my rings...those all turned out horrible, but I keep trying!

I did have an avatar of a house with smoke coming out of the roof. I used it until I found the Christmas tree I have now. I just love anything to do with Christmas so my avatar will probably change a few more times before Dec 25 LOL

 

[stone-cold11]

tourmaline_lover''s thread, where she tries to capture her diamond''s fluor and phosph. There are some tips on how to do it there. Hope you can get some good pics.

Good luck.

 

[Fly Girl]

Date: 11/18/2008 4:17:14 AM
Author: flowerladytoo
Thank you all for your replies. Phosphorescence! How neat!

Of course, after what my diamond did under the black light I had to get out all my jewelry and try the black light on it. My new OEC didn''t react at all. A few of the smaller diamonds in my rings and necklaces have blue fluorescence, and one stone actually looked orange, but only one tiny stone keeps glowing after the light is turned out, and it glows blue for just a few seconds.

My .53 diamond looks really reddish yellowish orange, kind of like a light tangerine, for a few seconds after the light goes out, then the red/orange hue disappears and the stone turns more of a bright yellow that very slowly fades away. I wish I could figure out how to get a good picture of it. I will experiment later this week and see if I can.

How excellent! Sounds like you can distinguish between a couple of different excited states, which emit different colors as the electrons decay. So cool!

 

[MMT]

Sounds beautiful, I would love to see it too

 

[Richard Sherwood]

Phosphorescence. Cool...

 

[flowerladytoo]

Well we tried to get good pictures but so far only one turned out. The ones we take in the dark are way too blurry, so we are going to try again later. This was taken in a regular lighted room while shining the mini black light on my rings. Sorry for the lousy picture.

I''m still pretty new at this.

 

[stone-cold11]

Looks pretty.

Try setting the camera on a stand and use a timer setting to reduce camera motion, that is all I can suggest...

Practice makes perfect. Good

 

[:)]

Cool!!!

 

[Diamond*Dana]

How cool, the phosphorescence and the picture you posted!
My center stone in my three stone has some flourescence to it, but I do not recall it glowing after the blacklight went off. That would be neat to see!

 

[flowerladytoo]

Managed to get a couple pictures. Not good, but getting better. The phosphorescence is REALLY hard to catch on camera, and it''s a lot brighter than the picture we managed to get, but you get the general idea.

 

[flowerladytoo]

This is in regular indoor lighting. Not good, but better than I''ve been getting, so making some progress with the picture taking!

 

[flowerladytoo]

In the dark with just the blacklight.

 

[flowerladytoo]

And this is the glow after the blacklight is turned out. It is actually much brighter than this. It was HARD to get a picture at all, but you get the general idea, anyway

 

[stone-cold11]

WOW!

Good Pics.

 

[flowerladytoo]

Date: 11/20/2008 3:16:06 AM
Author: Stone-cold11
WOW!


Good Pics.

Thank you!!

Hubby and I spent time this evening trying to get decent pictures. At least we are making progress. Managed to get some of my eBay OEC too. I will post on another thread later. I should have remembered to take off my rings first, though, before taking pictures of them. I''ve been on prednisone for a few months and it makes my fingers look so bloated and ugly..sigh.

 

[flowerladytoo]

One more picture. Even though it doesn''t show the glow very well, it does show some of the color. It seems to start off kind of a tangerine color, then fades to bright yellow within 20 sec or so. At the very end the yellow color looks more greenish. Wish it was easier to capture this with a camera