Flame or plasma synthesis of diamond under turbulent and transition flow conditions

A method for synthesizing diamond comprising the steps of:

• flowing together a gaseous carbon source and a gaseous hydrogen source to form a flow of a gaseous mixture, said flow of said gaseous mixture being under turbulent flow conditions or under transition zone flow conditions;
• exciting the flow of said gaseous mixture to form a gaseous flow of a reactive species, said gaseous flow of said reactive species being under turbulent flow conditions or under transition zone flow conditions;
• reacting the gaseous flow of said reactive species to form a gaseous flow of a deposition species, said gaseous flow of said deposition species being under turbulent flow conditions or under transition zone flow conditions;
• mounting a substrate for deposition of diamond to a mount including means for cooling said substrate independently of the temperature of said gaseous flow of said deposition species;
• disposing said mounted substrate in the gaseous flow of said deposition species;
• and
• maintaining the substrate at a temperature for the deposition of diamond, thereby inducing deposition of diamond on the substrate.