Wikipedia
Q-carbon is an allotrope of carbon. It is reported to be ferromagnetic, electrically conductive, and able to glow when exposed to low levels of energy. It is relatively inexpensive to make and some media reports claim that it has replaced diamond as the world's hardest substance. According to the researchers, Q-carbon exhibits a random amorphous structure that is a mix of 3-way (sp) and 4-way (sp) bonding rather than the uniform sp bonds found in diamonds. Carbon is melted using nanosecond laser pulses then quenched rapidly to form Q-carbon or a mixture of Q-carbon and diamond or diamond in the form of micro- and nanoscale crystals and needles or large area single crystal films. Researchers are also able to create nitrogen-vacancy (NV) nanodiamonds in a controlled way and self-organize them for a variety of potential applications ranging from nanosensing and quantum computing to biomarkers. The transition from NV to NV- can be driven optically as well as electronically.