nucleation

Among them is Rod Adams, whose Nucleation Capital fund promotes investment in nuclear technology.

"However, our knowledge particularly of the early stages of nucleation and growth is full of gaps. And this has thwarted the development of effective synthesis protocols. We therefore were extremely intrigued to visualize the reaction as it unfolds and set the focus on the earliest stages when the mixed molecular components are starting to react."

The microstructural features relevant to the coercivity and nucleation of magnetization reversal were revealed.

Ruoff explains, "The concentration of subsurface carbon atoms is so high at around 10 minutes that this time exposure is close to or at supersaturation, leading to the nucleation of diamonds either at 10 minutes or sometime between 10 and 15 minutes. The growth of diamond particles is expected to occur very rapidly after nucleation, at some time between about 10 minutes and 15 minutes."

Diamonds could not be grown at all without the addition of silicon, which suggests that silicon may be involved in the initial nucleation of diamond.