CV

Please also see my LinkedIn profile

Education

• PhD in Liquid Crystal Photonics and Laser Microfabrication, Oxford University, 2021 (expected)
• MSci in Natural Sciences (Physics & Chemistry), University College London, 2015

Awards and Funding

• Institution of Engineering and Technology Leslie H. Paddle Scholarship 2019
• Hong Kong Baptist University Innovation Summer School Scholarship 2019
• European Forum Alpbach Scholarship 2019
• Oxford Photonics Day Graduate Prize 2018
• SPIE Photonics West Travel Award 2018
• Diamond Light Source Science Communication Award 2014

Work experience

• Research Scientist - Sharp Laboratories of Europe Ltd. (2015 - 2016)
  • Development of novel laser technology
  • Duties included: Report writing, 3D CAD and 3D printing, optical experiments, photonic device assembly, presentation of results
  • Training courses: UK-Japan Cultural Awareness, Idea Generation, Patent Filings, Leadership
• Summer Research Student - Diamond Light Source (Summer 2014)
  • Surface science research project on the fabrication of thin films of novel topological insulators
  • Synchrotron operations, UHV systems, molecular beam epitaxy, low-energy electron diffraction (LEED), scanning tunnelling microscopy (STM), x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and Auger electron spectroscopy (AES)
  • Awarded the Diamond Science Communication Award for creating a blog to engage in science communication
• Summer Research Student - Oxford Instruments NanoScience
  • LabVIEW development for instrumentation control for cryogenic environments and superconducting magnets
  • Designed and developed hardware and LabVIEW software to fully automate the time-consuming process of obtaining the helium cryogen level in an experimental cryostat

Publications

Read on Demand Images in Laser-Written Polymerizable Liquid Crystal Devices

Tartan, C. C., Sandford O’Neill, J. J., Salter, P. S., Aplinc, J., Booth, M. J., Ravnik, M., Morris, S. M., Elston, S. J., "Read on Demand Images in Laser-Written Polymerizable Liquid Crystal Devices." Advanced Optical Materials, 6, 1800515 (2018)

Robust measurement of flexoelectro-optic switching with different surface alignments

Sandford O’Neill, J. J., Fells, J. A. J., Welch, C., Mehl, G., Yip, W. C., Wilkinson, T. D., Booth, M. J., Elston, S. J., Morris, S. M., "Robust measurement of flexoelectro-optic switching with different surface alignments." Journal of Applied Physics, 125, 093104 (2019)

Electrically-tunable positioning of topological defects in liquid crystals

Sandford O’Neill, J. J., Salter, P. S., Booth, M. J., Elston, S. J., Morris, S. M., "Electrically-tunable positioning of topological defects in liquid crystals." Nature Communications, 11, 2203 (2020)

Professional Societies

• Institute of Physics (2011-present)
• Institution of Engineering and Technology (2018 – present)
• British Liquid Crystal Society (2017 – present)
• International Liquid Crystal Society (2018 – present)
• SPIE (2017 – present)
• OSA (2017 – present)
• UK Students for the Exploration and Development of Space (UKSEDS) (2013 – present)