Igor P. Marko was born in Belarus, in 1974. He graduated with distinction from the Department of Quantum Radio-Physics and Optoelectronics, the Belarusian State University, Belarus, in 1996. He received the Ph.D. degree in 2000. From 1996 to 2001, he studied the optical properties of ZnSe- and GaN-based wide bandgap semiconductors and optically pumped lasers with the Laboratory of Semiconductor Optics of B. I. Stepanov Institute of Physics of the Belarusian Academy of Sciences. Since 2001, have been studying the properties of III-V based novel materials and photonic devices from visible to mid-infrared spectral range with the University of Surrey using various optical and electrical characterization techniques.