What does it mean to cultivate rubies?

By simulating the growth environment and growth principle of gemstones in nature, artificial gem with the same chemical composition and physical characteristics as natural rubies is manufactured by appropriate methods (such as flame melting).

According to Baidu Encyclopedia, the gems cultivated in the laboratory include diamonds, rubies and emeralds. The common methods for cultivating diamonds are high temperature and high pressure (HPHT) and vapor deposition (CVD). Common methods for cultivating rubies and emeralds are hydrothermal method and cosolvent method.

The activities of synthesizing gems in the laboratory have a history of more than 100 years, such as synthesizing diamonds and rubies. Although these products are consistent with natural gemstones in chemical composition and some physical properties (such as hardness and refractive index), most of their physical properties, such as growth stripes, color saturation, clarity, dichroism and dispersion, are quite different from natural gemstones, which can be distinguished by naked eyes. Therefore, these products are mainly used in industrial fields. For example, synthetic diamonds are widely used in various superhard abrasive fields, and synthetic rubies are used as industrial bearings and optical lenses. From the appearance, this synthetic gem does not really reach the gem quality of natural gemstones, but it is habitually called synthetic gemstones because of its consistent composition.