NEW DIAMOND TECHNOLOGY FOR GEOSCIENCE AND BEYOND

Diamond has played diverse roles in the geological sciences, from characterizing mantle processes to understanding ultrahigh pressure metamorphism to its use in experiments that replicate the entire pressure-temperature range of the Earth's interior with diamond anvil cells. The drive to develop next generation high-pressure techniques has led to the discovery of new processes for laboratory synthesis of single crystal diamond. Large single-crystal diamonds above 10 mm in thickness can now be fabricated by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) at high growth rate. Moreover, the mechanical properties, chemistry, optical, and electronic properties of the material can be tuned over a wide range. The single crystals can have extremely high fracture toughness and exceptionally high hardness following high-pressure/high-temperature annealing. Synthesis of diamond crystals in the inch-range are possible, and new shapes with embedded sensors and probes can be fabricated. This diamond will make possible large volume high-pressure devices for new classes of studies of earth materials as well as enable a variety of other scientific and technological applications and a new era of ‘applied mineralogy' of diamond.