TECHNICAL INFORMATION

HOT VS. COLD LASER SYSTEMS

It is important to understand there are two very different categories of lasers used for diamond inscription; hot lasers and cold lasers. Hot lasers are YAG lasers and Cold lasers use Excimer laser technology. Put simply, the PhotoScribe Cold lasers are the only laser systems that are guaranteed 100% safe for diamond inscriptions. Hot lasers will chip or fracture diamonds. High quality polished girdles are especially at risk for fracturing or chipping with "Hot" lasers. PhotoScribe's cold lasers are the most trusted lasers and have a proven track record of use in most major labs around the world for over 6 years. Here is why:

Diamonds are transparent over a wide spectral range, down to approximately 220nm for type 2A diamonds. Hot lasers operate at a wave length above 220nm which means that the laser beam is able to penetrate through the surface of the diamond and into the stone itself. Cold lasers operate at 193nm and have a very short pulse duration. This produces a photo-ablative process, without the heat affect zone common to the thermal marking of other type of lasers. For these reasons Photoscribe's cold laser systems will not damage or fracture your diamonds.

Additionally with a hot laser, pre and post treatment of the stone is necessary to help focus the laser beam on the surface of the stone. A clear white out material must be manually painted to the surface of the stone. In addition to being messy and time consuming, the manual application of the white out material leads to variations in coating thicknesses which can lead to skipping in the inscription. These processes are NOT necessary with PhotoScribe cold lasers. No pre or post treatment of the stone is necessary. Simply load the stone, verify your inscription on the live computer screen image of the gemstone and watch as the laser inscribes a perfect inscription!

The patented PhotoScribe LMS Cold Laser Series machines are exclusively designed and manufactured for diamond and gemstone inscription. The LMS Laser Systems are much faster and far exceed all capabilities of hot lasers. In fact, we are so confident in the ability of our LMS Cold Laser Systems, we guarantee in writing they will not fracture your diamonds or gems.