John Roy Sambles, FRS is an English experimental physicist.

Sambles, originally from Callington in Cornwall

Cornwall

Cornwall is a unitary authority and ceremonial county of England, within the United Kingdom. It is bordered to the north and west by the Celtic Sea, to the south by the English Channel, and to the east by the county of Devon, over the River Tamar. Cornwall has a population of , and covers an area of...

, studied physics at Imperial College, London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

, gaining his BSc

Bachelor of Science

A Bachelor of Science is an undergraduate academic degree awarded for completed courses that generally last three to five years .-Australia:In Australia, the BSc is a 3 year degree, offered from 1st year on...

 and PhD

Doctor of Philosophy

Doctor of Philosophy, abbreviated as Ph.D., PhD, D.Phil., or DPhil , in English-speaking countries, is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities...

 degrees there, and has since published over 400 papers in international journals. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in May 2002.

Sambles is currently Professor of Experimental Physics at the University of Exeter

University of Exeter

The University of Exeter is a public university in South West England. It belongs to the 1994 Group, an association of 19 of the United Kingdom's smaller research-intensive universities....

, he has a long and distinguished career researching the interaction of light with matter. His group at Exeter have studied a wide range of systems including: liquid crystal

Liquid crystal

Liquid crystals are a state of matter that have properties between those of a conventional liquid and those of a solid crystal. For instance, an LC may flow like a liquid, but its molecules may be oriented in a crystal-like way. There are many different types of LC phases, which can be...

 devices; iridescent butterfly wings; surface plasmon

Surface plasmon

Surface plasmons , are coherent electron oscillations that exist at the interface between any two materials where the real part of the dielectric function changes sign across the interface...

s and microwave

Microwave

Microwaves, a subset of radio waves, have wavelengths ranging from as long as one meter to as short as one millimeter, or equivalently, with frequencies between 300 MHz and 300 GHz. This broad definition includes both UHF and EHF , and various sources use different boundaries...

 photonics

Photonics

The science of photonics includes the generation, emission, transmission, modulation, signal processing, switching, amplification, detection and sensing of light. The term photonics thereby emphasizes that photons are neither particles nor waves — they are different in that they have both particle...

. These studies have applications in liquid crystal display

Liquid crystal display

A liquid crystal display is a flat panel display, electronic visual display, or video display that uses the light modulating properties of liquid crystals . LCs do not emit light directly....

s for television

Television

Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...

s and computer display

Computer display

A monitor or display is an electronic visual display for computers. The monitor comprises the display device, circuitry, and an enclosure...

s, highly sensitive detection of materials (e.g. for medical diagnosis), and optical and microwave communication.

In 2008 he was appointed to the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council

Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council

The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council is a British Research Council that provides government funding for grants to undertake research and postgraduate degrees in engineering and the physical sciences , mainly to universities in the United Kingdom...

.

Edited books

• 1998: (edited with Steve Elston) The Optics of Thermotropic Liquid Crystals. London: Taylor & Francis ISBN 978-0-7484-0629-6

Awards

• 1998 - the George William Gray
  George William Gray
  George William Gray CBE, FRS is a Professor of Organic Chemistry at the University of Hull who was instrumental in developing the long-lasting materials which made liquid crystal displays possible...
  
   medal of the British Liquid Crystal Society
  British Liquid Crystal Society
  The British Liquid Crystal Society is a charitable trust established to promote education and research on liquid crystals in the United Kingdom. The object of the Society is to advance education in the science of liquid crystals throughout Great Britain and Northern Ireland...
  
  .
• 2002 - Elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society.
• 2003 - Young Medal and Prize
  Young Medal and Prize
  The Young Medal and Prize is a prize awarded on odd numbered years by the Institute of Physics in the memory of Thomas Young for distinguished research in the field of optics, including physics outside the visible region.- Young Medalists:...
  
  , for distinguished research in the field of optics
  Optics
  Optics is the branch of physics which involves the behavior and properties of light, including its interactions with matter and the construction of instruments that use or detect it. Optics usually describes the behavior of visible, ultraviolet, and infrared light...
  
   presented by the Institute of Physics
  Institute of Physics
  The Institute of Physics is a scientific charity devoted to increasing the practice, understanding and application of physics. It has a worldwide membership of around 40,000....
  
  .

External links

• Google scholar List of papers by JR Sambles
• Contact details for Prof Roy Sambles
• The homepage of Professor Roy Sambles' Research Group