Joel Cox established his research career in quantum and nonlinear optics, electrodynamics, and condensed matter physics during graduate studies at the University of Western Ontario, Canada, where he obtained his PhD in Physics (2013). He then joined the Institute of Photonic Sciences (ICFO) in Barcelona as a postdoc focusing on nonlinear optics and graphene plasmonics, later becoming a Cellex ICFO-MPQ Research Fellow in Quantum Nano-Optics (2017). In 2019, he was appointed as Assistant Professor at the Center for Nano Optics and the Danish Institute for Advanced Study (D-IAS) to pursue research in 2D polariton physics. In 2020, he was awarded a Sapere Aude: DFF-Starting grant to explore nonlinear light-matter interactions driven by polaritons in atomically thin materials.
As a founding member of the DNRF Center of Excellence for Polariton-driven Light-Matter Interactions (POLIMA), Joel Cox became Associate Professor of Theoretical Quantum Nano Optics in 2023 and was promoted to Professor of Nanophotonics in 2025. He is leading explorations of quantum and nonlinear nanophotonics in low-dimensional materials, with particular emphasis on the ability of polaritons to mediate quantum electrodynamic and nonlinear optical phenomena.
