noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   A type of point defect in crystals where an anion (negative ion) vacancy in the lattice traps one or more electrons, creating a localized site that absorbs specific wavelengths of light, thereby coloring the typically transparent material (e.g. the yellowing of NaCl due to trapped electrons in missing chloride sites); defects that form due to irradiation (e.g. X-rays), heat, or alkali metal vapor treatment and can be removed by annealing.

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Synonyms

All synonyms

color centerfarbe center

Etymology

F (from German Farbe, from Farbzentrum) + center.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.