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The role of N in diamond continues to be of interest to the materials’ scientist. Indeed, the failure to n-dope diamond and a number of recent experimental results1–6 showing that the single substitutional nitrogen in chemical vapor deposited CVD diamond behaves rather differently than in natural diamond, have intensified this interest. In natural and synthetic diamond, a variety of N-related defects have been identified and classified. 7 Foremost amongst these is the single substitutional N defect, which has been associated with a deep state 1.7 eV from the conduction band bottom and an electron-spin-resonance ESR signal at g 2.0024, labelled P1. Various ab initio studies7, 8 have matched this to a neutral charge substitutional N sitting in a trigonally symmetric threefold coordinated arrangement, having been mutually repelled from one of its carbon atom neighbors along their 111 bonding axis. 7, 8 The repelled C …