Dick Plumb graduated from Christ's College, Cambridge, in 1973 after holding a commission in the Royal Navy. Having gained his PhD on high-speed photodiodes, he joined the Standard Telecommunication Laboratories in 1977. Later he worked for BT and D Technologies Ltd. on laser diode technology materials, and took a leading role in a number of European programmes introducing DFB lasers into optical communication systems. He currently leads research into high-power and tunable laser diodes at the Department of Engineering, Cambridge University, which he joined as a lecturer and Fellow of Peterhouse in 1991.
