Editor’s Note
The Swiss Gemological Institute (SSEF) has announced a significant advancement in gemstone analysis with the introduction of the GemTOF instrument. This system uses laser ablation to provide detailed chemical data, offering new insights into gemstone origins and characteristics.
Basel, Switzerland–The Swiss Gemological Institute (SSEF) announced it has become the first grading laboratory in the world to introduce the “ground-breaking” GemTOF instrument in its facility.
The GemTOF conducts chemical analysis on gemstones through laser ablation—a process that removes tiny amounts of material from the surface of a gemstone using a focused laser beam. This allows it to provide more information about the origin of a number of gemstones, as well as precisely identify a range of other elements in colored stones, diamonds, and pearls.
More specifically, the instrument uses a system called Laser Ablation Inductively Coupled Plasma Time-Of-Flight Mass Spectrometry to conduct chemical analyses of gemstones and pearls.
Like other laser ablation-based systems, it extracts chemical information from a few tiny laser-ablated pits, which are usually restricted to the girdles of gemstones.
However, unlike other laser-ablation systems currently used by gem labs, GemTOF’s Time-of-Flight technology allows almost all isotopes to be measured simultaneously, rather than analyzing a selection one after another, SSEF said.
It also creates very shallow pits that are about the diameter of a single human hair, meaning they are hardly visible and don’t impact the weight of the stone.
The SSEF stated that the breakthrough technology of GemTOF offers new possibilities for origin determination of colored gemstones such as emerald, ruby, sapphire, spinel, alexandrite, tourmaline, and garnet.
It can also be used for age dating, analysis of inclusions, and chemical zoning in gems, diamonds, and pearls.
