IDEA #2X4HAM Method of Producing Fluorescent Diamond Particles

The present invention relates to a discovery that the color and fluorescent particles can be manipulated. Accordingly, in one embodiment, there is a method of processing diamond particles to form a plurality of luminescent diamond particles exhibiting luminescence in specific selected spectral ranges, comprising: providing diamond particles with sizes below about 100 microns having a surface and a diamond lattice and containing a plurality of impurity atoms in the diamond lattice; irradiating the diamond particles with high energy species in a dose of about 1x1010 species/cm2 to 1x1021 species/cm2; annealing the irradiated diamond particles in at least one of an inert gas environment, vacuum, or hydrogen environment at a target temperature in the temperature range from about 1400oC to about 2200oC to form luminescent diamond particles with emission in the specific selected spectral range where the specific spectral range is controlled by the temperature and duration of the annealing process and the irradiation dose; purifying the irradiated and annealed diamond particles to remove sp2 carbon from the surface of the diamond particles; and where the luminescence is excited by electromagnetic radiation in the wavelength range comprising at least one selected from the group consisting of optical and X-ray radiation. Accordingly, in another embodiment, there is a method of processing diamond particles to form a plurality of luminescent diamond particles exhibiting luminescence in specific selected spectral ranges, comprising: providing diamond particles with sizes below about 100 microns having a surface and a diamond lattice and containing a plurality of nitrogen dopant atoms; irradiating the diamond particles with high energy radiation species in a dose of about 1x1010 species/cm2 to 1x1021 species/cm2; annealing the irradiated diamond particles in at least one of an inert gas environment, vacuum, and hydrogen environment at a target temperature in the temperature range 1400oC – 2200oC to form luminescent diamond particles with luminescence emission in the specific selected spectral range where the specific spectral range is controlled by the target temperature and duration of the annealing process and the irradiation dose; and where the luminescence is excited by electromagnetic radiation in the wavelength range comprising at least one selected from the group consisting of optical radiation and X-ray radiation.