What Is Synthetic Ruby

Rods of synthetic ruby are used to make ruby lasers and masers.

What is synthetic ruby.

This was no mere laboratory experiment. Ruby lasers are still in use. These lab grown stones are just as real as their mined counterparts but take about 3 billion fewer years to form give or take. Synthetic ruby sapphire.

They were not of any value as gems however because they became opaque as they cooled. The first working laser was made by theodore h. Maiman used a solid state light pumped synthetic ruby to produce red laser light at a wavelength of 694 nanometers nm. It should be noted that artificially produced rubies are not the same as fake rubies which have a different chemical structure from that of natural ruby.

A synthetic ruby on the other hand is a ruby that has been created in a lab by humans as opposed to in nature. Synthetic rubies also known as created cultured or lab grown rubies are created through an artificial process that usually involves high temperature and pressure. Flame fusion is a famous and first process to produce synthetic corundum. It is important to distinguish between fake rubies and synthetic rubies.

Gaudin a french chemist who produced some synthetic rubies beginning in 1837. Fake rubies are stones made of an imitation material such as glass or a non ruby mineral. The ability to create gemstones in the laboratory began in 1902 when auguste verneuil a french chemist developed a method known as flame fusion to create synthetic ruby. The basic definition of a synthetic gem is a precious stone that s grown in a lab under the same condition that real gemstones form.

The color is the result of combining aluminum oxide which by itself is colorless with chrome creating a mineral known a corundum or ruby. From a chemical standpoint lab created rubies are no different from natural ones and are considered real rubies. Synthetic rubies often appear brighter and more vivid than natural rubies. Synthetic rubies are essentially lab grown gems using advanced technology.

So they aren t fake rubies but just man made ones. Documented attempts to make rubies date to the experiments of marc a. Ruby is also the birthstone that represents the month of july. Chemically optically and structurally a synthetic ruby is identical to natural rubies.

Synthetic rubies have technological uses as well as gemological ones. Synthetic rubies contain almost the exact same chemical composition and physical properties as natural rubies but are sold around the world for a fraction of the price of natural rubies.