Can a diamond be manufactured that is indistinguishable from the real thing?
Pretty much, yes. Since gemological and industrial uses of diamond have created a large demand some of it is met by synthetics, man-made diamonds which have similar properties to natural diamonds. This process has historically produced industrial-grade diamonds, but producers have recently begun to produce diamonds with high enough quality to penetrate the gem diamond market. Currently, trained gemologists are able to distinguish natural diamonds from all synthetic and simulant diamonds. However, new techniques for creating and treating simulants (such as coating them with a very thin diamond-like layer of carbon) are making it increasingly difficult to distinguish simulants from real diamonds.
