Dichroic Fluorescence Imaging for Repeatable Gemstone Analysis
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current gemstone analysis methods are cumbersome and difficult to reproduce due to the need for precise aiming of illumination sources, which are challenging to auto-focus on polished gem facets lacking definable features, and often require additional hardware and complex setups.
Innovation Solution
A method utilizing a dichroic beam splitter to reflect and pass specific wavelength bands of light for fluorescence imaging, allowing gemstones to be placed table-side down on a sapphire stage, enabling easy and reproducible analysis without the need for adjustments, and using a camera to capture and digitize the fluorescence image for comparison with stored images.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Difficulty of detecting and measuring
If illumination source aiming is used to analyze gemstones, then analysis capability is provided, but device complexity and ease of operation deteriorate due to cumbersome aiming requirements
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of aiming the illumination source at the gemstone, the patent inverts the approach by placing the gemstone table-side down on the stage and illuminating it from below. This inversion eliminates the need for complex aiming adjustments while maintaining analysis capability through fluorescence imaging.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a fluorescence imaging system as an intermediary between the illumination source and the gemstone. The fluorescence emitted by the gemstone serves as the intermediary signal that carries information about the gemstone's properties, eliminating the need for direct illumination aiming.
2Measurement precision
If auto-focusing on polished gem facets is attempted, then focus accuracy is improved, but device complexity increases due to lack of definable features for focusing
Solution Approach 1:
The patent inverts the traditional focusing approach by focusing on the gemstone table interface rather than the polished facets. This provides a clear, definable reference surface for automatic focusing while avoiding the complexity of focusing on featureless polished surfaces.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses the fluorescence image as a copy or representation of the gemstone's optical properties. By capturing the fluorescence emission pattern, the system creates a digital copy that can be analyzed without requiring direct focus on the physical gemstone facets, simplifying the focusing mechanism.
3Measurement precision
If additional hardware is added to aim and adjust illumination source, then analysis precision is improved, but device complexity worsens
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the essential function of analysis from the complex illumination aiming system. By separating the illumination function from the analysis function and using fluorescence emission as the analysis signal, the system eliminates the need for additional hardware components while maintaining precision.
Solution Approach 2:
The fluorescence emission serves as an intermediary that carries the analysis information directly from the gemstone to the detector. This intermediary approach eliminates the need for complex illumination adjustment hardware while maintaining analysis precision through the fluorescence signal.
4Measurement precision
If gemstone holders are used to position gemstones, then positioning accuracy is improved, but ease of operation worsens due to additional positioning requirements
Solution Approach 1:
The patent enables the gemstone to serve itself by placing it table-side down on the stage, where its own table surface provides the positioning reference. This eliminates the need for external holders or positioning mechanisms while maintaining positioning accuracy through the gemstone's own geometric features.
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of using holders to position the gemstone from the outside, the patent inverts the approach by using the gemstone's table surface as the positioning reference. This self-positioning approach simplifies operation while maintaining accuracy through the gemstone's inherent geometry.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Facilitates reliable and repeatable fluorescence imaging of gemstones with minimal setup adjustments, allowing for accurate identification of natural vs. synthetic diamonds and detection of synthetic overgrowth by analyzing fluorescence patterns and growth patterns.
Implementation Method 1
directing the fluorescence exciting beam through a filter and to a dichroic beam splitter, wherein the dichroic beam splitter is configured to reflect wavelengths of the fluorescence exciting beam and pass wavelengths of excited fluorescence from the sample gemstone
Implementation Method 2
a flat stage capable of transmitting both ultraviolet and visible light, the flat stage configured to support a table of the sample gemstone and receive reflected beams from the dichroic beam splitter
Implementation Method 3
receiving, at a camera with a computer processor and a memory, an excited fluorescence image from the sample gemstone resting table-side down on a sapphire stage, wherein the excited fluorescence image having passed through the dichroic beam splitter, digitizing, by the camera computer, the received fluorescence image
Data Source
AI summary
Systems and methods here may be used for a setup of fluorescence image capturing of a gemstone, such as a diamond placed on a flat stage. Some examples utilize a setup that both sends light and captures the image from the table side of the gemstone by passing ultraviolet (UV) light between 10 nm and 400 nm to the gemstone and capturing the excited fluorescence image for analysis through a dichroic beam splitter. In some examples, the cutoff is 300 nm. The dichroic beam splitter arrangement allows for the camera to focus on the same interface of the stage and gemstone over and over for ease of use and without moving, changing, or adjusting the equipment for different samples.