Statistical imaging of NV centers reveals clustered defect formation in diamond

Abstract: The sharp optical resonances of NV- centers in diamond at cryogenic temperatures offer powerful new capabilities for material characterization, but extracting the most detailed information typically requires careful calibration of individual sensors, limiting scalability. In this work, we use resonant photoluminescence excitation imaging to optically resolve and monitor hundreds of individual NVs across large fields of view, enabling statistical analysis of their spatial distribution with sub-diffraction resolution. This multiplexed, non-destructive approach allows quantum sensors to characterize the material platform they inhabit. Focusing on CVD-grown diamond, we uncover significant deviations from random distributions, including an unexpectedly high occurrence of closely spaced clusters comprising two or more NVs. These findings suggest non-Poissonian formation dynamics and point to spatially correlated defect generation mechanisms. Beyond offering insight into diamond growth and NV center formation, our approach enables the scalable identification of naturally occurring NV clusters - configurations that are promising for entanglement-assisted quantum information protocols and correlated sensing - and establishes a path toward structural and electronic defect analysis in various material hosts at the single-emitter level.