Elastic diamond could be used to make LEDs and lasers

Normally brittle diamond has been stretched by almost 10% by an international team of scientists in China. Modelling done by the team suggests that this stretching significantly alters the electronic properties of the material, which could lead to new applications for diamond such as LEDs and variable-colour lasers.

In their new research, scientists used advanced fabrication processes to produce micron-scale, T-shaped samples of single-crystal diamond, which they stretched using a custom-made mechanical gripper. They measured different Young’s moduli along different crystallographic axes, achieving a maximum strain of 9.7% before the diamond fractured.