Ido Kaminer

Assistant Professor Ido Kaminer heads the Robert & Ruth Magid Electron Beam Quantum Dynamics Lab in the Andrew & Erna Viterbi Faculty of Computer & Electrical Engineering, and is on the faculty of the Solid State Institute. He is affiliated with the Technion’s Helen Diller Center for Quantum Science, Matter, and Engineering and the Russell Berrie Nanotechnology Institute.

Prof. Kaminer’s research focuses on light-matter interactions with novel nanophotonics, X-ray sources, ultrafast detectors, and extreme nonlinear quantum optics. His researchers, known as the AdQuanta Group, developed an ultrafast transmission electron microscope that is the latest and most versatile of a handful existing in the scientific world. Using that microscope, the team was able to see, for the first time ever, how light flows inside a tiny photonic crystal. The breakthrough, published in the June 2020 issue of Nature, could hold applications for designing new quantum materials to store quantum bits more stably, and for improving the sharpness of colors on cell phones and other screens.

Prof. Kaminer’s lab also encompasses research on the electromagnetic spectrum. So when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, they shifted easily to explore ultraviolet light for reducing the chances of transmitting the coronavirus indoors. After researching fluorescent lamps, LEDs, and other available sources of ultraviolet (UV) light, the team found that applying UV light into ventilation systems of buildings and shared indoor spaces while not in use, can quickly and effectively deactivate airborne and surface-deposited viruses.

Prof. Kaminer is a third-generation Technion alumnus, as both his parents and his grandfather are Technion graduates. He earned his bachelor’s degree in both electrical engineering and physics, graduating in the Technion Excellence Program. He completed his doctoral studies in physics under the mentorship of Distinguished Professor Moti Segev, and was a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Physics at MIT.

His selected awards include the Knesset (Israeli parliament) Award for outstanding achievements as an undergraduate, the Physical Society Prize for his doctoral dissertation, an Azrieli Faculty Fellowship, and the Jacques Lewiner Career Advancement Chair in the Leaders in Technion Science and Technology program.