Synthetic White Diamonds (Colorless)

D.NEA primarily offers white diamonds in colorless and near colorless colors up to five carats.

Making them Colorless

Diamonds are made of carbon. If the diamond is pure carbon with no impurities, it will be completely colorless. Nearly all diamonds–mined and grown alike–have some impurities, which add color to the diamond, with nitrogen being the most common. During growth, these impurities become part of the diamond lattice and create a single-atom ‘color center’ based on the specific element. This color center absorbs all visible light, except one color which is reflected back, giving the diamond its color. Nitrogen creates a yellow color while boron creates a blue color.

Nearly all mined diamonds were originally yellow and contain more nitrogen than most lab-grown diamonds. Deep inside the earth over millions of years, the heat and pressure cause the single nitrogen atoms to aggregate into two, four or more atom ‘color centers’. These aggregated color centers do not absorb light, allowing the diamond to keep its white appearance.

When growing a diamond, we do not have the luxury of many years to color treat our yellow diamonds to turn them white, but rather have to grow them with little to no nitrogen. While some are colorless “D” diamonds, they come out in all colors, graded on the same scale as mined white diamonds:

Growth Duration

Having little to no nitrogen in the diamond causes the crystal to grow very slowly and can take over two weeks to grow a rough that could cut into a one carat diamond.

It is necessary to maintain a very exact set of constraints for the heat and pressure during the entire growth cycle. If there is any fluctuation in either heat or pressure, the diamond will either stop growing, or become so heavily included, any further growth is unusable.

Being able to control the necessary growth conditions for the length of time it takes to grow a white is what makes them the most difficult color, but advancements mostly in CVD has made them more readily available in the last few years.

See what it takes to grow a diamond

Price

The sparkle and brilliance of a white diamond is highly sought after by many people. They are the most abundant color of gem-quality mined diamonds. Lab-grown white diamonds cost, on average, 15-40% less than a comparable mined white diamond.

Shape

Whites will be cut into most popular shapes, with a majority being round brilliants, due primarily to demand. Other shapes such as princess, radiant, cushion, asscher, emerald, pear and marquise are also available.

Cut

Photo of a loose white diamond

There are many different attributes that determine the overall cut and beauty of a diamond. Our diamonds are hand-cut in North America and Antwerp to the highest standards. Each diamond is individually analyzed and cut to maximize beauty and value.

Size

Colorless diamonds can be grown up to around 5 carats. Some do exist in larger sizes, though most of the D-G colors are three carats and under.

Availability

Larger sizes and better qualities are less common, but highly sought after and generally sell quickly. Let us know what you are seeking and we will let you know the closest available matches.

Learn more about availability of white diamonds

Misconceptions

Early speculation from years ago made the misimpression that colorless diamonds would be available by the truckload for merely dollars per carat. This however, is far from the truth. The man-made diamond industry is over fifty years old, while jewelry quality colored diamonds have only been around since the late 2000’s. White diamonds have only been available in any quantity since 2012, and capacity is still a small fraction of the mined diamond production.

Treatment

AOTC-grown white diamonds are made through the HPHT treatment process, and are their as-grown, untreated colors. It is not currently possible to whiten an HPHT-grown diamond using a post-growth treatment process.

CVD diamonds can grow with brown or black hues and may require an additional color treatment process to turn them near-colorless. None of the WD Grown Diamonds have undergone treatment.

Type

All synthetic white diamonds are type IIa.

Additional Information

[ Color | Shape | Carat | Cut | Clarity | Certification ]