Even though synthetic diamonds are used in laboratories and factories for decades, where they are used for the production of cutting tools. The synthetic diamonds of gem quality that now appear in jewelry are a relatively new phenomenon. In order to prove a diamond is synthetic or real, the companies that make and sell the ‘fake diamonds’ have to have research done on them in a licenced gemstone laboratory. They also explicitly have to mention whether the diamond is synthetic and man made in a laboratory or not.

The first successful attempt at making a synthetic diamond was in 1854, when a team of researchers from General Electric created a diamond in a lab. They did this by mimicking the circumstances under which diamonds are formed in nature; they subjected carbon to extreme temperature and pressure. In the 1950’s another method to make synthetic diamonds was made. During this process, called chemical vapour deposition, diamonds were produced at very low pressure and a relatively low temperature, by putting a gas mixture of carbon on a diamond substrate. Lab created diamonds are man-made diamonds that consist of actual carbon atoms arranged in the characteristic diamond crystal structure. Diamond simulants, such as cubic zirconia and moissanite, are diamond look-alikes and are not true carbon crystals. Simulants do not have the same chemical and physical properties as diamonds and therefore simulants sell at much lower prices than lab created diamonds.