He became one of the unit's six original members and its security officer. He met with representatives of the Soviet Union's nuclear research program. He was considered useful because he spoke Armenian and knew Russian. He later became Group Leader of the Critical Technologies Group of the International Technology Division. He visited some 15 Russian laboratories, including weapons design laboratories. Krikorian was "at the forefront of dialogue between the Soviets and the United States in breaking down the barriers of the Cold War." Krikorian retired from Los Alamos National Laboratory in 1991. Krikorian met his wife Katherine "Pat" Patterson at Los Alamos. She was a member of the Women's Army Corps (WACs) and worked as a secretary during the Manhattan Project. They married in March 1948 and in 1951 had their only child, Debra Krikorian, who went on to become an army lieutenant colonel. Krikorian was a founding member of the United Church of Los Alamos. He translated Armenian poetry and could recite the "Rubaiyat" of Omar Khayyam. He died at his home in Los Alamos on April 18, 2018 and was buried next to his wife at Santa Fe National Cemetery. Krikorian held six patents and authored numerous papers, including 50 open publications and a number of classified intelligence assessments. His papers were concerned with everything from laser isotope separation and high-temperature reactor materials to directed-energy nuclear weapons and nuclear weapons testing. He wrote on rare earth and refractory carbides, intermetallic phase relationships, thermodynamics, crystallography, and superconductivity. He had "developed an international reputation in high-temperature chemistry." He was named a fellow of Los Alamos National Laboratory in 1985. He received Los Alamos Medal, the laboratory's top medal (2003) and the Intelligence Community Medallion by the CIA. He was awarded two honorary doctorates, from Niagara University (2005) and the National Academy of Sciences of Armenia (2005). Los Alamos National Laboratory Director Terry Wallace called Krikorian "a giant of national security science. "He contributed enormously to the mission of the laboratory [...] few people have been more impactful on our history than Krik. He leaves an enduring legacy that will continue far into the future," stated Wallace.