更纯净更便宜! 英国实验室'种'出钻石

Diamonds indistinguishable from the real thing have been grown by scientists at Cardiff University in the UK -- in a process which could undermine world gems markets.

近日，英国加的夫大学的科学家“种”出了与真品真假难辨的钻石，这种工序会颠覆世界宝石市场。

The precious stones can be created in a matter of days in a breakthrough that could revolutionise the business -- or see the value of gemstones plummet.

这些珍贵的石头在短短几天内就能创造出来，这可能会是一个彻底改变行业的突破性的进展--或者可以使得宝石的价值暴跌。

And the raw ingredients to create the diamonds are widely available as they are just methane and hydrogen gas.

而制造这种钻石的原料随处可见，因为它们只是甲烷和氢气。

The pioneering process is being championed by Professor Oliver Williams of Cardiff University, who made the discovery by making sheets into semi conductors.

这种开创性工序受到了加的夫大学教授奥利夫·威廉姆斯的推崇，威廉姆斯通过将纸张制成半导体发现了这道工序。

Professor Williams starts his process by putting a small seed into a vacuum chamber. He then adds methane and hydrogen gas. Both substances are heated to 3,000 C.

威廉姆斯教授开始先将一粒小“种子”放入真空室，再将被加热至3000摄氏度的甲烷和氢气注入其中。

The gases break up and carbon and methane are deposited on the seed diamond. The carbon then mimics the structure of a diamond.

这些气体分解后，碳和甲烷沉积在种子钻石上，之后碳会模拟钻石的结构。

"The grown diamonds are purer than anything you would see in nature. With the best growers, less than one atom in a trillion is an impurity," Williams said.

威廉姆斯称：“种出的钻石的纯度比人们在自然界见过的任何物质都高。最好的‘种植手’生产的钻石，每一万亿原子中只有一颗不纯。”