Dr. Misra was a professor at IIT Bombay.
By The American Bazaar Staff
NEW YORK: Dr. Devi Shanker Misra, a physicist and inventor who was formerly a professor at the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, and is now the Chief Technical Officer, Pure Grown Diamonds, based in New York City, has unveiled the world’s largest, laboratory-cultivated brilliant white diamonds that are indistinguishable from mined diamonds.
The pure grown diamonds cost 30 to 40 percent less than mined diamonds, according to a press release from the company.
“This 21st Century technological achievement comes during the holiday season when 26 percent of all marriage proposals occur; a few weeks before Valentine’s Day when six million couples get engaged; when most men spend 25 percent of their annual salaries on a diamond ring and when prices are at an all-time high – up 75 percent since 2009, due to depletion of natural resources,” said Pure Grown Diamonds President and CEO Lisa Bissell, in a statement.
“During the past 70 years, many have tried to grow scintillating, sizeable, colorless diamonds but have failed,” explains Misra, in a statement. “No one, no company has achieved what Pure Grown Diamonds has accomplished — culturing thousands of alluring diamonds that rival mined-diamonds, in every aspect.”
Misra is the inventor of the patented Pure Grown Diamond process that cultivates incredible diamonds in a Microwave Plasma Chemical Vapor Deposition chamber from a small carbon seed. It takes from one-and-a-half to two-and-a-half-months to grow a diamond.
Pure Grown Diamonds have the exact same chemical composition, physical properties and optical features as earth-mined diamonds, according to the International Gemological Institute.
“Most guys shopping for diamonds are suffering sticker shock,” explains Bissell, one of the few women diamond industry CEOs. “Pure Grown Diamonds are the new affordable, eco-friendly, conflict free option for shoppers seeking value; for consumers concerned about the environmental impact of mining; for people troubled by the history of human rights violations and greed-motivated violence in mining regions.”
The world’s largest laboratory Pure Grown Diamond was cultivated in late November. It is certified by the International Gemological Institute. It is a near colorless 3.04 carat, round stone, I color, SI1 clarity, very good cut. It sells for $23,012 on www.PureGrownDiamonds.com
Mined diamonds of near identical characteristics sell from between $38,000 and $46,000 on some of the best-known jewelry websites in America, said the release.
Pure Grown Diamonds quality one carat stones are priced from $1,000 to $4,000. A one carat mined diamond starts at $5,000. One carat round diamonds are the most popular for engagement rings in the U.S. Starting price for diamond jewelry is about $300.
Most Pure Grown Diamonds are E-H color and VVS1-VS2 clarity certified. The highest colorless rating is D. The highest clarity rating is VVS1.
“Pure Grown Diamonds is about to change the landscape of the mining and jewelry industries,” says Misra. “Mining dramatically alters eco-systems and wild habitats, unlike Pure Grown Diamonds, which are marvels of technology that do not undermine the sustainability of the environment.”
Pure Grown Diamonds are cultivated at its Singapore sister company IIa Technologies’ state-of-the-art facilities where the earth’s process of crystalizing carbon is exactingly replicated, said the release.
A diamond seed is placed inside a low-pressure microwave chamber. Hydrogen and methane gases are introduced. A microwave generator pumps energy into the chamber that ignites a glowing plasma ball. Carbon molecules rain on the seed. Crystallization begins. The process is completed within 42 to 70 days.
The diamond is cut with a laser, polished and then certified.
“Pure Grown Diamonds are not artificial or synthetic and not cubic zirconium,” emphasizes Bissell.
According to the United States Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the term ‘synthetic’ in reference to lab-grown diamonds, is misleading as it implies that such stones are imitations.
The only difference is that one is grown in a lab and the other is grown under the earth’s crust, according to Misra.
Pure Grown Diamonds are Type IIa diamonds, which have a unique growth structure. Pure Grown Diamonds are detectible only by highly sophisticated equipment and from their laser-scribed identifications on the stones’ girdles that read, “Lab Grown.”