Diamond Services Ltd., the Hong Kong-based firm that markets cutting-edge technological solutions to the diamond, gem and jewelry industry, is launching a new, accessible and affordable technology that will significantly lower the threshold for diamond companies to screen for synthetic diamonds -- both loose and mounted.

Yossi Kuzi, the owner of Diamond Services, said that the new screening technology is based on laser optics. "We have developed a device, in close cooperation with the faculty of chemistry of one of the world's leading academic institutions that screens colorless diamonds, in all sizes, shapes and quantities, with a 100 percent success rate. We have run tests on batches of up to a 1,000 stones -- HPHT and CVD -- with complete success," Kuzi stated.

Kuzi has been involved in seeking and developing affordable screening methods and tools for some time. In 2012, his firm released the DiamaPen, a low-cost device that yields highly accurate results in the screening and separation of fancy color synthetic diamonds.

"There are several, rather expensive, instruments available in the market that help separate natural diamonds from their synthetic counterparts. The screening methods of these instruments are invariably based on the assumption that all synthetic diamonds belong to the type IIa category and on these tools' ability to measure the fluorescence of the diamonds," Kuzi noted.

"However, recently the industry was confronted with synthetic diamonds that belong to the type IaAB category, which cannot be detected by means of fluorescence measurements. This, for all practical purposes, means that the instruments that currently serve gem labs and the industry at large have become, if not obsolete, at least less reliable," he stated.

Kuzi demonstrated a laboratory prototype of the screening device this month in his office, proving that a quantity of diamonds of various shapes and sizes as well as mounted stones could be screened in, literally, seconds. "Screening for synthetic diamonds must become one of the rather simple actions that involve identifying and recording a diamond's identity and should not take more than the time required to, for instance, weigh a stone. By introducing low-entrance technology, we hope to level the playing field for all operators in the market and make it accessible industry wide."

The new screening system will be launched at the coming Hong Kong show in March 2014 (Asia World Expo, Hall 9, booth M07) and will be available thereafter via service stations worldwide. The first service stations will start operating from March in Hong Kong and in Israel.

"A well known industry commentator wrote recently that 'the key to resolving the challenges presented by synthetic diamonds is our ability to differentiate natural diamonds from synthetic diamonds,' and that we need to employ the 4Ds: differentiation, detection, disclosure and documentation. We hope to be making a significant contribution toward that important goal," Kuzi concluded.