Alec Gambling was distinguished for his many contributions to optical fibre communications, and especially for his work on the optical fibre itself. His ingenious liquid core fibre was at the time of its invention the lowest loss fibre of any kind. He pioneered a fibre manufacturing technique which had been widely copied in Europe, America and Japan. His studies of material and waveguide dispersion are of major importance, and have shown how zero total dispersion can be achieved. He also made important contributions to curvature and 'microbending' losses.
Professor Alec Gambling FREng FRS died on 9 January 2021.
Subject groups
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Astronomy and Physics
Lasers and optoelectronics
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Engineering and Materials Science
Opto-electronics (inc lasers, optical microscopy/imaging, fibre optic component)
