Most true synthetic Alexandrite is grown by the Czochralski method, known as “pulling”. Another method is a “floating zone”, developed in 1964 by an Armenian scientist Khachatur Saakovich Bagdasarov, of the Russian (former Soviet) Institute of Crystallography, Moscow. Bagdasarov’s floating zone method was widely used to manufacture white YAG for spacecraft and submarine lighting, before the process found its way into jewelry production. Alexandrite crystals grown by floating zone method tend to have less intensity in color than crystals grown by the pulled method.Flux-grown alexandrite stones are expensive to make and are grown in platinum crucibles. Crystals of platinum may still be evident in the cut stones. Alexandrite grown by the flux-melt process will contain particles of flux, resembling liquid “feathers” with a refractive index and specific gravity that echo that of natural alexandrite. Some stones contain parallel groups of negative crystals. Due to the high cost of this process, it is no longer used commercially. The largest producer of jewelry quality laboratory-grown alexandrite to this day is Tairus. Production capacity is in the range of 100 kg/year.
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