Roberts Henry, Abudayyeh Hamza, Li Xiaoqin, Li Xiuling
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Microelectronics Research Center, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78712, United States.
Texas Quantum Institute, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78712, United States.
ACS Nano. 2025 Jul 1;19(25):22528-22575. doi: 10.1021/acsnano.5c00802. Epub 2025 Jun 16.
Spin defects in solid-state materials offer a platform for quantum sensing that combines the properties of atom-like systems with the scalability, versatility, and technological maturity of semiconductor devices. The past decade has seen increasing interest in host materials beyond diamond which can offer additional functionality and more effectively leverage the advantage of the existing semiconductor ecosystem. This review provides a survey and comparison of spin defects in silicon carbide, hexagonal boron nitride, and gallium nitride with an emphasis on their applications to magnetometry, electrometry, thermometry, and strain sensing. A practical overview of quantum sensing protocols and sensitivity enhancement is provided along with a final discussion of the future direction of the field and remaining challenges.