Fancy Color Fluorescence
Learning Center Articles
FLUORESCENCE IN FANCY COLORED DIAMONDS
Diamonds are formed deep inside the Earth over billions of years. During this long formation process, they sometimes absorb tiny amounts of minerals other than carbon. These minerals stay inside the diamond forever and can cause it to react in interesting ways to light—especially ultraviolet (UV) light, which is invisible to our eyes. When a diamond is exposed to UV light, it may glow or shine in a different color. This glow is called fluorescence.
You can think of it like a white T-shirt under a black light at a party. The shirt looks normal in regular light, but when hit by UV light, it suddenly glows. The same thing happens with some diamonds—what looks like a regular diamond can suddenly show flashes of blue, white, green, orange, or yellow under UV light. About 30% of all diamonds show some level of fluorescence, and the most common color is blue. This effect is caused by the unique mix of minerals inside the diamond.
Different colored diamonds react in different ways. Pink diamonds are known to fluoresce more often and more strongly than other colors. Yellow diamonds, on the other hand, usually have no fluorescence or only a very faint one. But when a yellow diamond does have yellow fluorescence, it can actually make the diamond’s yellow color look richer and more intense. The same goes for green diamonds with green fluorescence, or orange diamonds with orange fluorescence—the glow can help deepen the color, making the stone even more special.