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The article says "emits a soft glow". Since that's impossible for something which isn't radioactive, I assume the reporter misunderstood something. What propert

• OopsCriticality 11y ago
  > The article says "emits a soft glow". Since that's impossible for something which isn't radioactive… Not at all true. In this case, it could be a phosphorescence or fluorescence process (the NYT says fluorescence), initiated by ambient light. I skimmed both scholarly publications on this material but didn't find any mention of optical properties. I would ordinarily guess that any optical emission would involve an internal defect site (as happens with other optically-active diamond structures), but I'm thinking that's not a good guess given the synthesis process and overall quality of the monocrystalline product. A better guess might be some sort of "deep trap" emission involving surface defects.