Progress in quantum super-resolution imaging technology based on NV color centers

Exploring the microscopic world has always been a goal pursued by researchers. With the advancement of technology, the observable scale by humans continues to decrease. However, traditional optical methods cannot overcome the diffraction limit bottleneck, with their minimum resolution remaining at the hundred-nanometer scale. The nitrogen-vacancy (NV) color center, a type of point defect in diamond, which possesses excellent quantum manipulation capabilities and optical properties. It has been applied in fields such as quantum computing, quantum communication, and quantum sensing. In recent years, several quantum super-resolution imaging technologies based on NV color centers have been proposed, which can break through the diffraction limit. This technology can be applied in many research fields with high demand for super-resolution imaging, such as new materials and biomedicine. This study summarizes the key issues in super-resolution imaging, elaborates on the structure and physical properties of NV color centers, highlights the main advances in various NV color center-based quantum super-resolution imaging technologies, and discusses their advantages and limitations. On this basis, this study prospects the research and application potential of NV color center-based quantum super-resolution imaging technology.