Ali Hajimiri

Ali Hajimiri was born in 1968 in Isfahan, Iran, into a family that valued scientific inquiry and intellectual rigor. Growing up in a culturally rich environment, he demonstrated an early aptitude for mathematics and physics, which guided him toward electrical engineering as his vocation. He pursued his undergraduate studies in Iran before emigrating to the United States, where he completed his doctoral work at Stanford University under the supervision of prominent faculty in the field of high-frequency circuits.

Hajimiri joined the faculty of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) in 1998, where he rose to become a full professor and co-director of the Space-Solar Power Project. His early career was defined by groundbreaking theoretical contributions, most notably his development of a time-variant model for phase noise in oscillators. This model, known universally as the Hajimiri-Lee phase noise model, fundamentally reshaped how engineers understand and design low-noise oscillators, enabling the miniaturization and performance advances seen in modern wireless communications.

Over subsequent decades, Hajimiri expanded his research into phased-array systems, optical phased arrays, and integrated silicon photonics. His team demonstrated the first fully integrated optical phased array capable of 2D beam steering, a breakthrough with sweeping implications for LiDAR, free-space optical communications, and augmented reality. He also pioneered work on large-scale wireless power transfer from space, contributing to Caltech's landmark 2023 demonstration of space-based solar power transmission.

Hajimiri holds dozens of patents, has authored hundreds of peer-reviewed papers, and has received numerous honors including the IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems Darlington Award. He is a Fellow of the IEEE. His work bridges fundamental circuit theory with real-world systems that define how humanity communicates, senses, and harvests energy. He remains active at Caltech, mentoring the next generation of circuit designers and continuing to push the boundaries of integrated electronics.