Masterstones created a gemology oriented tool in collaboration with the Department of Earth and Geo – Environmental Sciences of the University of 
Bari. The LIBS (laser – induced breakdown spectroscopy) system is really interesting from the scientific point of view and uses a high power laser pulse to gather information about the trace element located in the samples to be analyzed. During the analysis process, the intermittent laser ray is focused on a sample portion. Once the perfect point has been found, a small ablation is created increasing power. The ablation is the atomization of a little amount of material (either belonging to nano – grams or pico – grams) that creates plasma. Through the spectrometer and the wavelength sampler, emission lines typical of the elements located in the plasma are observed and measured. The use of this tool for the sampling of the beryllium in corundum is particularly interesting. Beryllium, one of the lightest elements, is artificially spread in the corundum crystal lattice through a very high temperature warming process. This causes color variation in colorless or soft color crystals, making them similar to more precious gems, such as rubies or sapphires.
