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US 6,684,663 B2Granted
Microinscribed gemstone
AssigneeLazare Kaplan International, Inc.
InventorsGeorge R. Kaplan, Avigdor Shachrai, Oded Anner, Leonid Gurvich
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A microinscribed gemstone is inscribed by a laser beam to graphitize a surface portion of the gemstone without damaging a bulk portion.
Claims23
A gemstone produced by a method comprising the steps of:
- receiving marking instructions;
- mounting a gemstone in a mounting system;
- imaging the mounted gemstone from at least one vantage point to product optical feedback;
- directing a focused laser energy onto a desired portion of the mounted gemstone;
- controlling the directing of focused laser energy from a pulse laser energy source based on the marking instructions and the imaging, to selectively generate a surface microinscription marking on the gemstone corresponding to the instructions, to graphitize a surface portion without damaging a bulk portion, said graphitization extending less than about 10 microns deep and producing a minimum line width of about 9-12 microns.
2 more elements
A gemstone microinscribed by a laser energy microinscribing system, produced by a process comprising:
- providing a laser energy source;
- mounting a gemstone in a mounting system, allowing optical access to the mounted gemstone;
- providing an optical system for focusing laser energy from the laser energy source, onto the gemstone to create a marking thereon;
- directing said focused laser energy onto a desired portion of the gemstone;
- viewing the gemstone from at least one vantage point to obtaining image information from the gemstone;
- controlling said directing based on said marking instructions and said image information, to selectively generate a marking based on said marking instructions and a predetermined program, to graphitize a surface portion without damaging a bulk portion, said graphitization extending less that about 10 microns deep and producing a minimum line width of about 9-12 microns.
3 more elements
A gemstone microinscribed by laser energy microinscribing system, produced by a process comprising comprising:
- providing a laser energy source;
- mounting a cut gemstone in a mounting system, allowing optical access thereto;
- focusing laser energy from the laser energy source onto a cut gemstone with an optical system;
- moving said gemstone mounting system with respect to said optical system with a displaceable stage so that said focused laser energy is presented to desired positions on said gemstone:
- viewing the gemstone from at least one vantage point with an imaging system;
- supporting said laser, said optical system and said stage in fixed relation on a rigid frame, to resist differential movements of said laser, said optical system and said stage and increase immunity to vibrational misalignments;
- receiving marking instructions;
- and
- controlling said displaceable stage based on said marking instructions and said imaging system, to selectively generate an optically corrected marking based on said instructions and a predetermined program, to graphitize a surface portion without damaging a bulk portion, said graphitization extending less than about 10 microns deep and producing a minimum line width of about 9-12 microns.
6 more elements
A laser microinscribed gemstone produced by a method comprising the steps of:
- providing an apparatus comprising a laser energy source;
- a gemstone mounting system, allowing optical access to a mounted gemstone;
- and an optical system for focusing laser energy from the laser energy source onto said gemstone to create an ablation pattern thereon, the ablation pattern graphitizing a surface portion without damaging a bulk portion, said graphitization extending less than about 10 microns deep and producing a minimum line width of about 9-12 microns:
- positioning said gemstone mounting system with respect to said optical system so that said focused laser energy is presented to desired positions on said gemstone;
- and
- supporting said laser, said optical system and said stage in fixed relation with a rigid frame, to resist differential movements of said laser, said optical system and said stage and increase immunity to vibrational misalignments to thereby produce said gemstone with a laser marking with reduced vibration-induced artifacts.
3 more elements
A laser energy microinscribed bed gemstone produced by a method comprising the steps of:
- providing a laser inscription system comprising a laser energy source:
- a gemstone mounting system, allowing optical access to a mounted gemstone;
- an optical system for focusing laser energy from the laser energy source onto said gemstone to create an ablation pattern thereon, adapted to graphitize a surface portion without damaging a bulk portion said graphitization extending less than about 10 microns deep and producing a minimum line width of about 9-12 microns;
- a stage for positioning said gemstone mounting system with respect to said optical system so that said focused Laser energy is presented to desired positions on said gemstone;
- and an optical imager for imaging the mounted gemstone from at least one vantage point.
- receiving a set of marking instructions defining desired marking positions for a marking to be inscribed on said gemstone;
- positioning said gemstone mounting system with respect to said optical system so that said focused laser energy is presented to said desired positions on said gemstone;
- imaging the mounted gemstone from at least one vantage point;
- sand positioning being controlled based on said set of marking instructions and an output of said optical imager, to produce an optically corrected microinscription corresponding to the marking instructions.
6 more elements
An authenticated gemstone produced by a process comprising:
- (a) applying a microinscribed marking to a portion of the gemstone, the microinscribed marking having a fixed relation to a predetermined portion of the gemstone, to graphitize a surface portion without damaging a bulk portion, said graphitization extending less than about 10 microns deep and producing a minimum line width of about 9-12 microns;
- (b) recording an image of the microinscribed marking and the predetermined portion of the gemstone, having sufficient resolution and scope to record a relationship of the microinscribed marking to the predetermined portion;
- (c) storing information from the recorded image;
- and
- (d) comparing a putative authentic gemstone to the recorded image to determine a corresponding thereof, a high degree of correspondence indicating that the gemstone is authentic.
2 more elements
A microinscribed diamond produced by a method consisting of the steps of:
- (a) illuminating a surface of the diamond with a harmonically converted pulse infrared laser, filtered to remove long wavelengts, through a focusing lens having a depth of field sufficiently short to form an ablation pattern at the focus of the lens at the surface of the diamond, without substantially altering the bulk diamond below the surface, to graphitize a surface portion without damaging a bulk portion, said graphitization extending less than 10 microns deep and producing a minimum line width of about 9-12 microns;
- and
- (b) precisely repositioning the surface of the diamond with respect to the focusing of the of the focusing lens, in a series of pixel locations, to produce a microinscription pattern on the diamond of a plurality of symbolic images, and
- (c) using optical feedback from an imager to ensure that the microinscription corresponds to a predetermined pattern.
1 more element
A microinscribed diamond produced by a method consisting of the steps of:
- (a) illuminating a surface of the diamond with a focused laser beam, having an intensity, duration, and depth of field sufficiently shallow to graphitize a surface portion without damaging a bulk portion, said graphitization extending less than about 10 microns deep and producing a minimum line width of about 9-12 microns;
- and
- (b) precisely positioning the diamond using optical closed loop feedback from an imager to produce a predetermined microinscription pattern on the diamond.
A microinscribed diamond having a laser-inscribed microinscription formed on a surface thereof said microinscription comprising graphitized surface portions, without associated damage to a bulk portion, said graphitization extending less than about 10 microns deep and producing a minimum line width of about 9-12 microns.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.