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Nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers in diamond carry spin degrees of freedom that enable their use for sensing of weak magnetic fields with high spatial resolution and under ambient conditions . This article reviews measurement technologies and identifies the physical mechanisms that limit the sensitivity with a focus on NV ensembles. Present-day NV sensors are far from theoretical limits imposed by quantum mechanics, and strategies are suggested for improvement of methods and materials.
Barry et al. (Tue,) studied this question.