  White dwarf and pre-white dwarf atmospheres are one of the best examples for
the application of Stark broadening research results in astrophysics, due to
plasma conditions very favorable for this line broadening mechanism. For
example in hot hydrogen-deficient (pre-) white dwarf stars Teff = 75 000 K -
180 000 K and log g = 5.5-8 [cgs]. Even for much cooler DA and DB white dwarfs
with typical effective temperatures of 10 000 K - 20 000 K, Stark broadening is
usually the dominant broadening mechanism. In this review, Stark broadening in
white dwarf spectra is considered and the attention is drawn to the STARK-B
database (http://stark-b.obspm.fr/), containing Stark broadening parameters
needed for white dwarf spectra analysis and synthesis, as well as to the new
search facilities which will provide the collective effort to develop Virtual
Atomic and Molecular Data Center (VAMDC - http://vamdc.org/).
