inversion center

A symmetry element of the crystallographic point group. An operation that transforms a coordinate (x, y, z) into (-x, -y, -z) (that is, the signs of the coordinates of each point are changed) is called the inversion operation. When this symmetry is operated for a crystal, the crystal can be equivalent to that before the operation. In this case, the point leaving fixed by the operation is called "inversion center."

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