(tass.ru) - The construction of an enterprise for growing artificial diamonds in Arkhangelsk will begin in 2022 and be completed in 2024, the press service of the Russian Arctic Research and Education Center (REC) told TASS on Wednesday. Single-crystal wafers with unique sensory properties will be created at the enterprise.
"The construction of a new enterprise will begin this year, and completion is scheduled for 2024. In addition to the main industrial part, it is planned to create a large space for accommodating auxiliary production facilities. This will be a high-tech enterprise for growing artificial diamonds and creating single-crystal wafers with unique sensor properties on their basis", - said the press service.
The project is an example of effective interaction between the REC and industrial partners, in this case, the diamond mining company AGD Diamonds. As Marat Yeseev, scientific director of the REC, explained to TASS, today a site has been allocated and the design of a production complex with an area of 2 thousand square meters has been completed. "This will allow us to produce 10 thousand carats of synthetic diamonds per year," he said.
As part of the project, a laboratory has been opened at the Northern Arctic Federal University (NArFU) where single-crystal diamond wafers with various defects and so-called NV centers are studied. The NV centers are inside a diamond and they can be used in various quantum technologies such as a quantum gyroscope, magnetometers, navigation devices, which will be very promising in the future. For the manufacture of single-crystal diamond wafers with environmental centers, it is necessary to carry out control, take into account how many environmental centers are needed in the wafer, how many of them have appeared and how many more need to be created.
Personnel for new productions
As Igor Ryzhov, head of the Department for Prospective Development of AGD Diamonds, noted, the REC has an opportunity to attract institutions from other regions, including for training personnel for new industries. "In order to successfully move in this direction, we have brought here the leading institutions of the country - Moscow, St. Petersburg, the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences. We are trying to create what is called a scientific and academic environment in which young scientists would develop, new ideas are born and so on," the press service quoted him.
Ryzhov added that young scientists and students can contact the REC with ideas on how to use the properties of the diamond wafers that will be produced. "If anyone has an idea how to use the unique sensory properties of these diamond wafers, we are ready to support them and create conditions so that the teams that take up something can realize their idea if they pass our evaluation system", he added.
In December 2020, the Russian government supported the creation of the Russian Arctic REC. The Arkhangelsk and Murmansk regions, as well as the Nenets Autonomous Okrug, participate in its work. The REC aims to implement new technological projects, introduce new materials and technologies, and conduct research that ensures competitiveness and world-class research and development. In addition, the tasks of the center include training personnel to solve major scientific and technological problems in the region in the interests of industry and the economy of the Russian Arctic.
"AGD Diamonds" (former name "Arkhangelskgeoldobycha") is one of the oldest companies in the European North of Russia in the search, exploration, production and processing of minerals, founded in 1931. The company is developing one of the two diamond deposits in Europe - the deposit behalf V. Grib in the Mezensky district of the Arkhangelsk region.
