My diamond is not only fluorescent but also a phosphorescent

[zhuzhu]

I discovered every night that after I turned all lights off, my solitaire which glows intense blue under UV light pen, glows greenish blue in the dark with no light source. This phosphorescent effect lasts for almost 2 minutes, depending on how long I had exposed it with the UV light pen.

Is phosphorescent commonly observed in diamonds with blue fluorescence? Does it have any health related consequences?

Thanks!
Zhu

 

[stone-cold11]

Re: My diamond is not only fluorescent but also a phosphores

No and no.

Very rare and not a health hazard.

Nice find, wish I had one.

 

[Fly Girl]

Re: My diamond is not only fluorescent but also a phosphores

Very cool diamond, zhuzhu! DH and I were shopping for diamonds a while back, and we were checking the fluor under UV on one stone at the jewelers, and I noticed that after she turned the UV light off, the stone continued to glow pink. Too bad the stone had some cutting issues, because I loved the effect.

In any case, you might enjoy reading some more about phosphorescence in this thread.

rockytalky/could-this-be-a-chameleon-or-is-it-just-fluor-t128695.html

 

[yssie]

Re: My diamond is not only fluorescent but also a phosphores

Super cool, Zhu!!

 

[slg47]

Re: My diamond is not only fluorescent but also a phosphores

ok that's awesome and nope, no health hazards

question...does anyone know why some diamonds are phosphorescent and others are not? does it have to do with impurities?

 

[Andelain]

Re: My diamond is not only fluorescent but also a phosphores

Can you get pictures of the effect? That would be something to see.

Is it possible for a stone to be phosphorescent without being flourescent?

 

[Fly Girl]

Re: My diamond is not only fluorescent but also a phosphores

Can you get pictures of the effect? That would be something to see.

Is it possible for a stone to be phosphorescent without being flourescent?

Not really. Phosphorescence is fluorescence that continues after the exciting source (in this case, the UV light) has been removed. As I understand it, the UV light excites electrons into a higher energy state, and when the electrons fall back into their normal resting state, a bit of light is released. They can also fall to intermediate energy states, and not go directly to the normal resting state, and this will also release a bit of light. How far the energy states are apart will be reflected in the different colors of light being emitted. The amount of time the electrons sit in the intermediate states also determines how long the phosphorescence continues.

Apologies in advance to any quantum mechanics experts out there for my simplified, but hopefully not too inaccurate, explanation.

 

[slg47]

Re: My diamond is not only fluorescent but also a phosphores

Can you get pictures of the effect? That would be something to see.

Is it possible for a stone to be phosphorescent without being flourescent?

Not really. Phosphorescence is fluorescence that continues after the exciting source (in this case, the UV light) has been removed. As I understand it, the UV light excites electrons into a higher energy state, and when the electrons fall back into their normal resting state, a bit of light is released. They can also fall to intermediate energy states, and not go directly to the normal resting state, and this will also release a bit of light. How far the energy states are apart will be reflected in the different colors of light being emitted. The amount of time the electrons sit in the intermediate states also determines how long the phosphorescence continues.

Apologies in advance to any quantum mechanics experts out there for my simplified, but hopefully not too inaccurate, explanation.

yep, that's pretty good...for the super geeks out there phosphorescence is describing a spin-forbidden transition so the time-scale is much larger, and you see it after the UV light is turned off...so I would think that since different states/transitions are involved that non-fluoro diamonds can be phosphorescent...but maybe the cause is related

http://lgdl.gia.edu/pdfs/W97_fluoresce.pdf

this is interesting, apparently it has to do with nitrogen...will do some more reading on this later! cool stuff sorry to geek out the thread here