Word: shtrikman
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...idea for a so-called gemprinting technique grew out of a chance conversation between Physicist Shmuel Shtrik-man and an old friend, Meyer Kaplan, head of the criminal identification division of the Israeli Ministry of Police. While describing his work at the Weizmann Institute, Shtrikman complained that each of the diamonds he was using in his experiments produced a unique pattern when a beam of light was reflected from it onto a screen. Aware that Israel is the world's largest exporter of cut diamonds, Kaplan suggested that the patterns might be used to identify individual gems...
...Shtrikman and his Weizmann team soon developed a simple diamond-identifying device. It consists of a small helium-neon laser that directs a beam of light through a pinhole in a sheet of Polaroid film and onto a diamond. As the laser's uniform light waves hit the "table" (or top facet) of the gem, some of them are reflected. Others enter the diamond, circle around inside it and are refracted at varying angles. The result is a unique pattern of spots on the film that looks like a bright, star-cluttered sky; in more advanced versions...
...Faith. Now manufactured commercially by Kulso Ltd., the machine (cost: about $3,500) can produce an identifying print in two minutes. Shtrikman believes that the patterns, which show brilliancy and quality of a cut stone as well, can also be used to assess a diamond's value. That innovation could have even greater impact on gem transactions. Until now, the only real assurance diamond traders have had when they concluded a deal was the traditional act of faith between them: a handshake and the exchange of the Hebrew words "mazal u-brocha" (luck and a blessing...
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