This handbook is a breakthrough in the understanding of the large number of spectral lines in diamond. Data on more than 2000 lines and bands are presented in 200 tables, including many unpublished results.

With a novel organization scheme, the search for a specific line is greatly simplified as a benefit for researchers and students.

In order to meet the interest in the understanding of the spectra, structure assignments for 80 % of the lines are given, of which 15 % only were published before. The majority of the structures for the 300 centers is explained in most cases for the first time.

A key instrument in the interpretation is the analysis by donor-acceptor pair transitions. In a special chapter 95 such centers are listed and discussed, of which only two have been published before, the first one by the present author in 1994.