Igor Aharonovich is an award-winning scientist working on cutting-edge research into quantum sources that are able to generate, encode and distribute quantum information. A Professor in the School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences at UTS, Igor investigates optically active defects in solids, with the aim of identifying a new generation of ultra-bright solid state quantum emitters.

He is a chief investigator at the ARC Centre of Excellence for Transformative Meta-Optical Materials (TMOS), and leads an international collaboration investigating the chemical structure of crystal imperfections, or defects, in the nanomaterial hexagonal boron nitride (hBN).
In 2013, he established the nanophotonics research group at UTS, was promoted to Associate Professor in 2015, and to a full Professor in 2018.
His research group explores new quantum emitters in wide bandgap materials, with the aim of fabricating quantum nanophotonic devices on a single chip for the next generation of quantum computing, cryptography and bio-sensing.

In 2016, Igor and his team discovered the first quantum emitters in 2D materials that operate at room temperature based on defects in hBN.
He has co-authored more than 200 peer-reviewed publications, including one of the most cited reviews on diamond photonics. He has also written a road map for solid state single-photon sources.

In 2019, Igor co-founded the inaugural online photonics conference, Photonics Online Meetup, which attracted more than 1100 attendees from around the world, and which was highlighted by top science outlets. The conference now runs twice a year.

Igor has received several international awards including the Pawsey Medal (2017), the IEEE Photonics Young Investigator Award (2016) and in 2020 he was the recipient of the Kavli Foundation Early Career Lectureship in Materials Science from Materials Research Society. In 2021, he became a Fellow of the Optical Society (OSA), and in 2024 elected as a fellow of SPIE. 

Igor received his B.Sc. (2005) and M.Sc. (2007) in Materials Engineering from the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, and a PhD from the University of Melbourne (2010).