Igor Pikovski

• Assistant Professor, Stockholm University, Sweden, 2019-present
• Assistant Professor, Stevens Institute of Technology, USA, 2018-present
• ITAMP postdoctoral fellow, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and Harvard University, 2014 – 2018
• VCQ fellow, University of Vienna, 2014
• PhD in physics, University of Vienna and Institute for Quantum Optics and Quantum Information, Vienna, Austria, 2009 – 2014
• Diploma (M.Sc.) in Physics, Free University of Berlin, Germany, 2003 – 2009
• Visiting student at Uppsala University, Sweden (2005 – 2006); University of California Santa Barbara, USA (2006 – 2007); Leiden University, the Netherlands (2007 – 2008)

Dr. Igor Pikovski works on theoretical physics, studying quantum optical systems and how gravity may affect their quantum behavior. He focuses on novel regimes of light-matter interactions to find ways to create and verify exotic quantum states of a variety of systems, such as atoms, light and nano-mechanical mirrors. His main research focus is to study the effect of gravity on such systems, and what novel phenomena may arise that can be probed in experiments. Using mathematical techniques from quantum optics and quantum information, he will study post-Newtonian effects in quantum systems, low-energy signatures of quantum gravity phenomenology and high-precision measurements of general relativity with novel quantum devices. The goal is to pave the way for various new experimental studies of the interplay between general relativity and quantum theory with quantum optical systems. The approach focuses on using quantum technologies for table-top experiments instead of large-scale instruments, opening a new window on the interplay between quantum physics and gravity.

• ITAMP fellowship, 2014
• VCQ fellowship, 2014
• Alfred-Ebenbauer scholarship of the University of Vienna, 2012
• Prize of the German Physical Society (DPG) and the Wilhelm and Else Heraeus-Foundation for Diploma thesis, 2009
• Dean’s Honors of the University of California Santa Barbara, 2007
• Scholar of the German National Academic Foundation (Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes), 2005 – 2009