Professor Yuri Kivshar stands as a preeminent figure in optical physics, renowned for his transformative contributions to nonlinear optics and photonics. He currently serves as Distinguished Professor and Head of the Nonlinear Physics Centre at The Australian National University, a position he has held since establishing the center in 1993. Born in Kharkiv, Ukraine (then part of the Soviet Union), he received his PhD in 1984 from Kharkov University and rapidly rose to become the youngest research fellow at the Verkin Institute for Low Temperature Physics and Engineering by 1989. After leaving the Soviet Union, he held prestigious positions across Europe and the United States before settling in Australia, where he built one of the world's most influential research groups in nonlinear photonics.
Professor Kivshar's pioneering research has fundamentally shaped our understanding of light-matter interactions, particularly in the domains of solitons, metamaterials, and nanophotonics. He is widely recognized as one of the founders of all-dielectric resonant metaphotonics, a revolutionary field based on Mie resonances in high-index dielectric nanoparticles that has enabled unprecedented control of light at the nanoscale. His theoretical frameworks for self-focusing effects, dielectric nanoantennas, and topological phenomena in photonics have provided essential foundations for experimental advances worldwide. The profound impact of his work was recognized with the 2022 Max Born Award, which specifically honored his groundbreaking research in nonlinear metamaterials and all-dielectric resonant metaphotonics that derives unique optical functionalities from electric and magnetic dipolar and multipolar Mie-type resonances.
Beyond his research excellence, Professor Kivshar has profoundly influenced the global scientific community through his leadership, mentorship, and collaborative initiatives across international boundaries. He serves as Deputy Editor of Photonics Research and has been elected Fellow of multiple prestigious academies including the Australian Academy of Science, Optica, and the American Physical Society. In 2010, he expanded his research leadership to Russia as scientific director of the International Research Centre for Nanophotonics and Metamaterials at ITMO University, demonstrating his commitment to international scientific collaboration. His ongoing research continues to explore cutting-edge frontiers in nonlinear and topological nanophotonics, with current projects focusing on novel optical phenomena that promise to enable transformative applications in optical communications, signal processing, and quantum technologies.
