[en] The fact that as a radiation detector, diamond is a stable, non-toxic and tissue equivalent (Z=6) material, makes it an ideal candidate for in vivo radiation dosimetry or the dosimetry of general radiation fields in environmental monitoring. Natural diamond crystals have the disadvantage, however, that no two crystals can be guaranteed to have the same response characteristics. This disadvantage can be overcome by synthesizing the crystals under controlled conditions and by using very selective chemistry. Such synthetic diamonds can be used as thermoluminescence dosimeters (TLDs) where they exhibit characteristics comparable to presently available commercial TLDs or they can be used as ionization chambers to produce either ionization currents or pulses where the small physical size of the diamond (1 mm³) and possibilities of digital circuitry makes miniaturization an extremely attractive possibility. It has also been found that they can perform as scintillation detectors. This contribution describes aspects of the performance characteristics of such diamonds in all three modes. 24 refs., 14 figs