Nitrogen-vacancy centers in diamond for nanoscale magnetic resonance imaging applications

The nitrogen-vacancy (NV) center is a point defect in diamond with unique properties for use in ultra-sensitive, high-resolution magnetometry. One of the most interesting and challenging applications is nanoscale magnetic resonance imaging (nano-MRI). While many review papers have covered other NV centers in diamond applications, there is no survey targeting the specific development of nano-MRI devices based on NV centers in diamond. Several different nano-MRI methods based on NV centers have been proposed with the goal of improving the spatial and temporal resolution, but without any coordinated effort. After summarizing the main NV magnetic imaging methods, this review presents a survey of the latest advances in NV center nano-MRI