Emerging trends in fluorescent nanodiamond quantum sensing

Abstract Diamond is the natural hardest material and has an exceptionally high thermal conductivity, wide optical transparency, and extreme chemical resistance. Most of these outstanding properties are still preserved for diamond at the nanoscale. Nanodiamond (ND) is highly biocompatible and inherently low in cytotoxicity, genotoxicity, and animal toxicity. Moreover, ND often contains atomic defects or impurities known as color centers. In this review article, we highlight the diverse applications of nitrogen-vacancy (NV) color centers in ND, which is also called fluorescent nanodiamond (FND). This review article summarizes recent advances and achievements in applying NV-containing FND for sensing and imaging including, nanoscale magnetic field sensing, NV axis orientation tracking, magnetic resonance, relaxometry for biosensing, nanoscale temperature sensing, spin-enhanced immunosensors for ultrasensitive in vitro diagnosis, and extreme ultraviolet imaging.