In the elections he gained 4241 votes in his district and was elected to Riigikogu. He became the Minister of Defence in Andrus Ansip's second government. Having assumed office on 5 April 2007, his first primary goals as Minister of Defence were restructuring the power management of the Estonian Defense Forces and dealing with the situation of the Bronze Soldier of Tallinn, a Soviet war monument, which was moved to a cemetery, causing much controversy and ethnic tension between a large proportion Estonians and local Russians. He also saw the Estonian youth's weak will of defending their country as a serious problem.
In 2011 he was re-elected to parliament and he became the Minister of Education and Research in Andrus Ansip's third government. As the Minister he strongly supported school reform and separating primary schools from gymnasiums.
In March 2015 he gained 1405 votes at the parliament elections and became a member in Riigikogu. In the summer of 2015 he ran for the position of the rector of Tallinn University of Technology.
Aaviksoo is married to Tiina Kaalep. He is a father of three, a grandfather of seven and a great-grandfather of one.
He speaks fluent English, German, Russian and French on an average level.
Works
Aaviksoo has publicized over 100 scientific articles and over 80 publicistic articles from 1976 to 2002. His more important publifications from the past decade are:[2]
J. Aaviksoo, C. Gourdon, R. Grousson, P. Lavallard, "Photoluminescence quantum yield in GaAs/AlAs superlattices", Solid State Electronics (vol. 40, no 1–8, p. 687, 1996)
J. Aaviksoo, C. Gourdon, P. Lavallard, "Power nonlinearities in the luminescence spectrum of GaAs/AlAs superlattices", Solid State Communications (vol. 99, no 6, p. 387, 1996)
S. O. Kognovitskii, V. V. Travnikov, J. Aaviksoo, I. Reimand, "Light Scattering by electrons in the absorption region of GaAs" – Phys. Solid State (vol. 39, no. 6, p. 907, 1997)
I. Reimand, J. Aaviksoo, "Exciton interaction with hot electrons in GaAs", Technical digest of X International Conference on Ultrafast Phenomena in Spectroscopy, (Tartu, 1997, p. 82)
J. Aaviksoo, "Estonian physicist: Active and productive", Science (vol. 275, no 5299, p. 463)
J. Aaviksoo. Priorities for Higher Education in Central and Eastern European Countries. – Higher Education Management (vol. 9, no. 2, p. 19, 1997).
I. Reimand, J. Aaviksoo, "Exciton interaction with hot electrons in GaAs", Phys. Rev. B 61, 2000, no 24, p 16653-16658
J.Aaviksoo, J.Kuhl, K.Ploog, Observation of optical precursors at pulse propagation in GaAs. – Phys. Rev. A, 44, 25353–25356, 1991.
I.Reimand, J.Aaviksoo, Surface polarization dynamics revealed by time-resolved resonant reflection of light. – Opt. Commun., 86(2) 142–146, 1991.
J.Aaviksoo, I.Reimand, V.V.Rossin, V.V.Travnikov, Quenching of exciton luminescence by hot electrons in GaAs. – Fiz. Tverd. Tela, 33(8) 2408–2412, 1991. (in Russian).
J.Aaviksoo, I.Reimand, V.V.Rossin, V.V.Travnikov, Kinetics of free exciton luminescence in GaAs. – Phys. Rev. B, 45(3) 1473–1476, 1992.
T.Reinot, J.Aaviksoo, Propagation of polariton luminescence pulses in anthracene. – J. Lumin., 50(2) 259–264, 1991.
J.Aaviksoo, T.Reinot, Ballistic propagation of luminescence pulses in anthracene crystal flakes. – J. Mol. Cryst. Liquid Cryst., 217, 147–151, 1992.
J.Aaviksoo, I.Reimand, V.Rossin, V.Travnikov, Kinetics of exciton formation and relaxation in GaAs. – J. Lumin., 53, 423–426, 1992.
J.Aaviksoo Estonian physicist: Active and Productive. – Science, 275, 463, 1997.