He was the leader of the Theoretical Astrophysics Group at Los Alamos from 1991 until he was made a laboratory fellow in the theory division in 1996.

He researches decoherence, physics of quantum and classical information, non-equilibrium dynamics of defect generation, and astrophysics.

He is also the co-author, along with William Wootters and Dennis Dieks, of a proof stating that a single quantum cannot be cloned (see the no-cloning theorem).

The paradigm covers phenomena of enormous varieties and scales, ranging from structure formation in the early Universe to vortex generation in superfluids.

Zurek was awarded the Albert Einstein Professorship Prize by the Foundation of the University of Ulm in Germany in 2010.