Solid-state color-center quantum sensors: materials, engineering strategies, and machine learning-enabled advances.

Abstract

Solid-state color-center spin defects provide a versatile platform for quantum sensing with applications ranging from nanoscale magnetometry to thermometry and electrometry. This review surveys recent progress in nitrogen-vacancy centers in diamond and defect spins in silicon carbide (SiC), with emphasis on their material properties, fabrication strategies, and coherence engineering. Key defect creation and optimization techniques, including ion implantation, femtosecond laser writing, focused ion beam nanofabrication, isotopic engineering, and surface passivation, are discussed in the context of improving spin coherence and optical performance. Fundamental quantum measurement protocols, optically detected magnetic resonance, Rabi oscillations, Ramsey interferometry, and spin echo, are reviewed as a hierarchical framework for characterizing spin control, dephasing, and intrinsic coherence. The review further highlights microscale sensing architectures and examines the growing role of machine learning in pulse optimization, adaptive estimation, and data-driven imaging. Finally, current challenges and future directions are outlined, focusing on scalability, environmental robustness, and autonomous operation. Together, these developments position diamond and SiC color centers as leading platforms for next-generation solid-state quantum sensors.