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Created Alexandrite

© 2005 Tairus

 

© 2008 Tairus All Rights reserved

Horizontal Crystallization, or Floating Zone Method, is used to grow multitude of Crystals, YAG (Yttrium Aluminum Garnet) in white, blue, pink and several other shades, Ruby, Chrysoberyl and, most and foremost, Alexandrite. This method is similar to the pulling (Czochralski) method, when the crystal is pulled vertically, but, instead, here it is pulled horizontally, using a tungsten dish and slow-melting technique, where the dish is pulled over a period of time under a heating element. The period of time depends on the size of the dish and the materials needed to be crystallized. In the case of Alexandrite,  the speed of the process is about 2 mm/hour. An average crystal being 18 cm long would take about 15 days to pull. This method was developed by an Armenian scientist, Professor Bagdosarov, of the Institute of Crystallography of Russian (formerly Soviet) Academy of Sciences, in the 1970’s and was widely used in production of white YAG for spacecraft and submarine illuminators, before finding its way into the jewelry scene as a simulated diamond.

The actual method of Alexandrite’s production by this method was developed by Tairus’ Scientist, Vladimir Gurov, whom development process of other gems, such as Chrysoberyl and Ruby by this method are also attributed to. Dr. Gurov is a foremost scientist in his field, who was honored by Floating Point Society as its leading researcher and awarded an Honorary Degree for his discoveries, and bestowed a title of  “Man of the Century.”

 

 

Apparatus for Horizontal Crystallization

Dr. Gurov, developer of the process

Pulling (Czochralski) apparatus

“Seeding” process