Rainer Blatt is a professor of experimental physics and head of the Quantum Optics and Spectroscopy group at the University of Innsbruck. His research focuses on quantum optics and quantum information. His team is using trapped ions as a means to address fundamental questions in quantum optics, spectroscopy, and quantum information science. 

Blatt received his PhD in physics from the University of Mainz, Germany and through a research grant from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG), joined JILA, USA, to work with Nobel Laureate and Optica Honorary Member John Hall. He has held positions at the Free University of Berlin, the University of Hamburg, and the University of Göttingen, all in Germany. Since 2003, he has been the scientific director at the Institute for Quantum Optics and Quantum Information (IQOQI) of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW).

A member of Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft (DPG) and a Fellow of the American Physical Society (APS), Blatt serves on many councils, committees and advisory boards. He also supports the next generation of scientists through talks and outreach for teachers and high school students. He has received numerous awards and honors, including the Carl Zeiss Research Award, the Stern-Gerlach-Medal, the John Stewart Bell Prize for Research on Fundamental Issues in Quantum Mechanics and their Applications, the Micius Quantum Prize, and the Austrian Academy of Sciences Erwin Schrödinger, the highest Austrian research prize. He recieved the 2023 Herbert Walther Award, presented by Optica and Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft (DPG).