• Tyfud@lemmy.world
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    3 days ago

    Will never happen until De beers exits the stage or is forced to.

    We already have incredibly easy to make and cheap diamonds that can rival and surpass any natural sized ones.

    They do not sell nearly as well because De beers has convinced everyone natural diamonds are a scarce resource, while they have a monopoly on the supply, of which there is no actual scarcity.

    • threelonmusketeers@sh.itjust.works
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      2 days ago

      and surpass any natural sized ones

      What’s the biggest synthetic diamond we’ve made so far? Has anyone made diamond spectacles or windows?

        • threelonmusketeers@sh.itjust.works
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          2 days ago

          10mm diameter

          Ah, so still not quite Cullinan-scale yet. Optical quality is probably better though.

          I’m surprised diamonds aren’t used more for lenses. Given its high index of refraction, it seems like an ideal material.

          • Blackmist
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            2 days ago

            Yeah, the optical quality seems to be the main point. I assume there’s few fields where that level of precision is worth it though. I doubt we’re about to see it on an iPhone any time soon.