Steven T. Bramwell (born 7 June 1961) is a British physicist and chemist who works at the London Centre for Nanotechnology and the Department of Physics and Astronomy, University College London. He is known for his experimental discovery of spin ice with M. J. Harris and his calculation of a critical exponent observed in two-dimensional magnets with P. C. W. Holdsworth. A probability distribution for global quantities in complex systems, the "Bramwell-Holdsworth-Pinton (BHP) distribution", (to be implemented in Mathematica[3]) is named after him.[4]

Steven T. Bramwell
Born (1961-06-07) 7 June 1961 (age 63)
NationalityBritish
Alma materOxford University
Known forspin ice, magnetic monopole, magnetricity, BHP distribution
AwardsHolweck Prize (2010)[1]
Europhysics Prize (2012)[2]
Scientific career
Fieldsphysics and chemistry
InstitutionsLondon Centre for Nanotechnology, University College London
Websitewww.ucl.ac.uk/physics-astronomy/people/professor-steven-bramwell

In 2009 Bramwell's group was one of several to report experimental evidence of magnetic monopole excitations in spin ice.[5][6][7][8][9] He coined the term "magnetricity" to describe currents of these effective magnetic "monopoles" in condensed-matter systems.[10]

Bramwell studied chemistry at Oxford University, obtaining his PhD in 1989. He was a professor of physical chemistry at University College London from 2000-2009, before becoming a Professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy.

Honours and distinctions

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Bramwell was awarded the 2010 Holweck Prize of the British Institute of Physics and the Société Française de Physique (SFP) for "pioneering new concepts in the experimental and theoretical study of spin systems".[1] He shared the 2012 Europhysics Prize of the European Physical Society Condensed Matter Division "for the prediction and experimental observation of magnetic monopoles in spin ice".[2] He is a Fellow of the Institute of Physics.

In 2010 he won the Times Higher Education research project of the year for "magnetricity",[11] and was named by The Times on their list of the 100 top UK scientists.[12]

Selected publications

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  • Harris, M.; Bramwell, S.; McMorrow, D.; Zeiske, T.; Godfrey, K. (1997). "Geometrical Frustration in the Ferromagnetic Pyrochlore Ho2Ti2O7" (PDF). Physical Review Letters. 79 (13): 2554–2557. Bibcode:1997PhRvL..79.2554H. doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.79.2554. hdl:20.500.11820/f7958ee9-5fb1-4965-8ab3-70c50216943c.
  • Bramwell, S T; Harris, M J (13 April 1998). "Frustration in Ising-type spin models on the pyrochlore lattice". Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter. 10 (14): L215–L220. Bibcode:1998JPCM...10L.215B. doi:10.1088/0953-8984/10/14/002. S2CID 250785872.
  • Bramwell, S. T. (16 November 2001). "Spin Ice State in Frustrated Magnetic Pyrochlore Materials". Science. 294 (5546): 1495–1501. arXiv:cond-mat/0201427. Bibcode:2001Sci...294.1495B. doi:10.1126/science.1064761. PMID 11711667. S2CID 9402061.
  • Bramwell, S T; Holdsworth, P C W (25 January 1993). "Magnetization and universal sub-critical behaviour in two-dimensional XY magnets". Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter. 5 (4): L53–L59. Bibcode:1993JPCM....5L..53B. doi:10.1088/0953-8984/5/4/004. S2CID 250912649.
  • Holdsworth, P. C. W.; Bramwell, S. T.; Pinton, J.-F. (10 December 1998). "Universality of rare fluctuations in turbulence and critical phenomena". Nature. 396 (6711): 552–554. Bibcode:1998Natur.396..552B. doi:10.1038/25083. S2CID 4373805.
  • Bramwell, S.; Christensen, K.; Fortin, J.-Y.; Holdsworth, P.; Jensen, H.; Lise, S.; López, J.; Nicodemi, M.; Pinton, J.-F.; Sellitto, M. (2000). "Universal Fluctuations in Correlated Systems". Physical Review Letters. 84 (17): 3744–3747. arXiv:cond-mat/9912255. Bibcode:2000PhRvL..84.3744B. doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.84.3744. PMID 11019195. S2CID 46664222.
  • Fennell, T.; Deen, P. P.; Wildes, A. R.; Schmalzl, K.; Prabhakaran, D.; Boothroyd, A. T.; Aldus, R. J.; McMorrow, D. F.; Bramwell, S. T. (3 September 2009). "Magnetic Coulomb Phase in the Spin Ice Ho2Ti2O7". Science. 326 (5951): 415–417. arXiv:0907.0954. Bibcode:2009Sci...326..415F. doi:10.1126/science.1177582. PMID 19729619. S2CID 206521792.
  • Bramwell, S. T.; Giblin, S. R.; Calder, S.; Aldus, R.; Prabhakaran, D.; Fennell, T. (15 October 2009). "Measurement of the charge and current of magnetic monopoles in spin ice". Nature. 461 (7266): 956–959. arXiv:0907.0956. Bibcode:2009Natur.461..956B. doi:10.1038/nature08500. PMID 19829376. S2CID 4399620.

References

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  1. ^ a b "2010 Holweck medal and prize". iop.org. Retrieved 23 March 2013.
  2. ^ a b "EPS CMD Europhysics Prize". epsnews.eu. 28 June 2012. Retrieved 23 March 2013.
  3. ^ Trott, Michael; Marichev, Oleg (1 February 2013). "The Ultimate Univariate Probability Distribution Explorer". blog.wolfram.com. Retrieved 23 March 2013.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  4. ^ Crooks, Gavin E. "Survey of simple, continuous, univariate probability distributions" (PDF). Three Plus One. S2CID 18883018. Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 July 2017.
  5. ^ Fennell, T.; Deen, P. P.; Wildes, A. R.; Schmalzl, K.; Prabhakaran, D.; Boothroyd, A. T.; Aldus, R. J.; McMorrow, D. F.; Bramwell, S. T. (16 October 2009). "Magnetic Coulomb Phase in the Spin Ice Ho2Ti2O7". Science. 326 (5951): 415–417. Bibcode:2009Sci...326..415F. doi:10.1126/science.1177582. ISSN 0036-8075. PMID 19729619. S2CID 206521792.
  6. ^ Morris, D. J. P.; Tennant, D. A.; Grigera, S. A.; Klemke, B.; Castelnovo, C.; Moessner, R.; Czternasty, C.; Meissner, M.; Rule, K. C.; Hoffmann, J.-U.; Kiefer, K. (16 October 2009). "Dirac Strings and Magnetic Monopoles in the Spin Ice Dy2Ti2O7". Science. 326 (5951): 411–414. arXiv:1011.1174. doi:10.1126/science.1178868. ISSN 0036-8075. PMID 19729617. S2CID 104322712.
  7. ^ Bramwell, S. T.; Giblin, S. R.; Calder, S.; Aldus, R.; Prabhakaran, D.; Fennell, T. (October 2009). "Measurement of the charge and current of magnetic monopoles in spin ice". Nature. 461 (7266): 956–959. arXiv:0907.0956. Bibcode:2009Natur.461..956B. doi:10.1038/nature08500. ISSN 1476-4687. PMID 19829376. S2CID 17790972.
  8. ^ Jaubert, L. D. C.; Holdsworth, P. C. W. (April 2009). "Signature of magnetic monopole and Dirac string dynamics in spin ice". Nature Physics. 5 (4): 258–261. arXiv:0903.1074. doi:10.1038/nphys1227. ISSN 1745-2481.
  9. ^ Kadowaki, Hiroaki; Doi, Naohiro; Aoki, Yuji; Tabata, Yoshikazu; J. Sato, Taku; W. Lynn, Jeffrey; Matsuhira, Kazuyuki; Hiroi, Zenji (13 October 2009). "Observation of Magnetic Monopoles in Spin Ice". Journal of the Physical Society of Japan. 78 (10): 103706. doi:10.1143/JPSJ.78.103706. ISSN 0031-9015. S2CID 118373241.
  10. ^ Powell, Devin (14 February 2011). "'Magnetricity' Created in Crystals of Spin Ice". wired.com. Retrieved 23 March 2013.
  11. ^ "EPSRC researchers win 'Research project of the year' at the Times Higher Education Awards". epsrc.ac.uk. 30 November 2010. Archived from the original on 15 July 2012. Retrieved 23 March 2013.
  12. ^ Durrani, Matin (7 October 2010). "100 top UK scientists revealed". blog.physicsworld.com. Retrieved 23 March 2013.
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