Igor Aharonovich (original) (raw)

The year was 1982 and the cold Berlin Wall divided Europe into east and west. Hope and joy were rare emotions on the eastern side. However, into one Moscow home, a future star was born. Igor Aharonovich (born 1982) is an Australian physicist and materials engineer. He is a professor at the School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS). Igor investigates optically active defects in solids, with an overarching goal to identify new generation of ultra-bright solid state quantum emitters. His main contributions include discovery of new color centers in diamond and hexagonal boron nitride as well as development of new methodologies to engineer nanophotonic devices from these materials.