LEDiamond

Women (and some men) have an irrational love of very high refractive indices, with values well above 2 (particularly in the visible wavelengths) being particularly sought after. Unfortunately, one of the materials with the highest refractive index, across the visible range, is diamond. Even though synthetic diamonds are now available in quite large sizes, they are still fairly expensive.

Closer investigation, though, reveals that diamond-lovers are often unaware of refractive indices, and instead use words like "sparkle", "fire" and "flash". All they are really interested in is having an object that can bounce, refract and split light so as to produce multiple flashes of different colours.

MaxCo. is therefore developing LEDiamonds for the cost- conscious sparklophile. Each lovingly mass-produced LEDiamond is hewn from the finest borosilicate glass, and has a dense array of tri-colour LEDs bonded to each of its surfaces, except the front one. A tiny light sensor is also bonded to the back surface. The LEDiamond, in turn, interfaces with a genuine gold-effect ring that houses a small battery, a wireless charging coil, an accelerometer and some integrated circuitry.

As you move your hand to show off your LEDiamond, the light sensor detects the ambient light. The accelerometer, in response to your hand movement, triggers a series of bright, transient flashes, in colours that are a subset of the incoming light. The light sensor can also be deactivated, so that your LEDiamond can sparkle brilliantly in even the dimmest room.

So far, we have only managed to produce LEDiamonds down to a size of around 10 carats. We hope to be able to get things down to 5 or even 2 carats, though these will of course be much more expensive.