See the difference. Experience diamond quality through your own eyes with the LightPath Diamond Performance Scope.
Using the LightPath DPS
At Dianna Rae Jewelry, our 35+ years of diamond expertise have taught us that true diamond quality goes beyond just charts and reports. That's why we developed the LightPath Diamond Performance Scope (DPS), a tool that lets you see a diamond's beauty, clarity and uniqueness for yourself.
For those new to buying a diamond, the LightPath DPS makes it easy to see and understand the details that drive a diamond's rarity, beauty and value. You can compare clarity characteristics for yourself without relying on the varying grading standards used by GIA, EGL, IGI and HRD, which each grade and describe diamonds differently, sometimes significantly. It lets you evaluate the beauty of a diamond based on what you see, not what you read on a report.
Free Design ConsultationHow it works
Your Dianna Rae diamond expert will walk you through each view as you compare diamonds side by side.
Why we love diamonds is pretty simple: they sparkle like nothing else, and they're super durable! However, as a rough crystal they aren't the brilliant gem we know and love. That transformation comes from cutting and polishing facets on the crystal. The pattern, shape, size and exact angle of each facet determines how light passes through the diamond.
You can think of the top of the diamond, the “crown,” like a window, allowing light to enter the diamond. The bottom of the diamond, called the “pavilion,” is like a series of mirrors. These mirrors work together in a complex series of reflections that produce a rainbow of colors, white flashes and contrast in each diamond.
The American Gem Society (AGS) pioneered the light performance technology used in the LightPath DPS. The AGS developed the Angular Spectrum Evaluation Tool, or ASET, to show the clear relationship between cutting and light performance. This is such a complex relationship that simple 2D dimensions, being used at the time by GIA, were not adequate. The AGS system uses real-world lighting to show how light impacts the beauty of the gem. The ASET uses 3 colors of light, each coming from a different angle.
Blue represents the observer's shadow. When you position your head over the diamond to observe it, your head blocks the light source, creating a dark area in the gem. This is one of the things that causes contrast, and contrast is a good thing in the right amount.
Red represents direct light: the light coming over the observer's shoulder, from an angle of 45 to 75 degrees. This light source is very important since most of the light we encounter comes from above us, either natural light (the sun) or artificial light (indoor ceiling lighting), and the shape of a diamond interacts with this light the most intensely. Red is the most desirable color on the ASET report.
Green represents indirect light: light that comes from ground level, or zero degrees, to 45 degrees. Although this light source produces a positive impact on the diamond, it's not as desirable as the red light, which comes from a higher angle.
There are areas in the ASET image that aren't as intense as others. These areas are not handling light as efficiently, meaning the light is “leaking.” This can happen because the path generated by the facets doesn't allow light to enter the diamond and reflect out to the observer. While some light leakage is fine, too much will cause the diamond to look dim or lifeless.
The ASET image is an important tool to determine how diamond cutting impacts light performance.
You'll always see a mix of blue, red and green in an ASET report. When looking at diamonds through the LightPath DPS, your Dianna Rae diamond expert will walk you through an evaluation of each diamond, leaving you with a complete understanding of each diamond's light performance and beauty.
The clarity grade is a measure of unique birthmarks, either internal (inclusions) or external (blemishes). Clarity is easy to show on a grading scale, but it looks much different when you see it for yourself. The LightPath DPS uses standard darkfield illumination for finding inclusions, which is important from a gemological perspective. We also show you the diamond in diffused light, the light you will see your diamond in every day, since imperfections may look radically different in each lighting type. The GIA system considers the size, nature, position, color, relief and quantity of clarity characteristics visible under 10× magnification; we show you these at greater than 10× on a 4K UHD monitor.
Think of direct light as a flashlight: a concentrated light at a central source. We use 16 tiny pinpoint light sources to show you how the diamond will sparkle when it's moving. We are looking for an even distribution of reflections. This is especially important in fancy shapes (not round), as they have areas of high and low light performance.
Through the scope
See it for yourself
Book a free appointment and we'll show you diamonds side by side, in every light.
Your consultation request was submitted successfully! One of our designers will be in touch in one to two business days.
This item has been added to your shopping bag View Bag
