Nic Shannon

Nic Shannon is a theoretical physicist, working in the fields of condensed matter and statistical physics.   He has a strong interest in quantum magnets, and other examples of "Quantum Matter", where large numbers of quantum particles interact.

Educated in the UK, Prof. Shannon spent time as a Postdoc at the Unviersity of Wisconsin-Madison (USA), CEA Saclay (France) and the Max Plank Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems (Germany) before up taking a permanent position at the University of Bristol (UK) in 2006.

In October 2011, Prof Shannon joined OIST, where he founded the "Theory of Quantum Matter Unit".  This group uses both analytic and numerical techniques to study models inspired by experiments on a wide range of quantum materials.

Prof. Shannon’s research was strongly influenced by time spent as a Guest Professor at the University of Tokyo, and he maintains strong links with both Physicists and Chemists in mainland Japan.

Outside science, Prof. Shannon is passionate about food, music and outdoor sports.

Present Position

  • 2016 Professor, Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University

Research Career

  • 2011 Associate Professor, Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University
  • 2011 Principle Investigator, Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Promotion Corporation
  • 2011 Reader in Research, University of Bristol
  • 2010 Senior Research Fellow, University of Bristol
  • 2006 Lecturer and EPSRC Advanced Research Fellow, University of Bristol
  • 2004 Research Scientist, MPI-CPfS
  • 2003 Guest Scientist within European Union Network Project, C.E.A. Saclay
  • 2000 Guest Scientist, MPI-PKS
  • 1997 Research Associate, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Fellowships, Scholarships and Visiting Positions

  • 2018 August-Wilhelm Scheer Visiting Professor, Technical University of Munich
  • 2011 Visiting Lecturer, Clarendon Laboratory, University of Oxford
  • 2011 Visiting Scholar, Trinity College, Cambridge
  • 2009 Project Professor, University of Tokyo
  • 2006 EPSRC Advanced Research Fellowship
  • 2005 Guest Associate Professor, University of Tokyo
  • 2004 Guest Associate Professor, University of Tokyo
  • 1999 Visiting Fellow, University of Warwick
  • 1994 Graduate Fellowship, University of Wisconsin-Madison
  • 1992 Vacation Studentship in Low Temperature Group, University of Birmingham

Higher Education

  • 1997 PhD "Non Fermi-liquid physics in or near to one dimension", University of Warwick.
  • 1993 BSc in Physics with Theoretical Physics (1st class Hons), University of Birmingham.

PhD Students, by Thesis

  • Leilee Chojnacki, OIST: "Analogues of light and gravity in the collective excitations of quantum magnets and cold atoms" (2024)
  • Kimberly Remund, OIST: “Spin-1 magnets and their excitations” (2022)
  • Andreas Thomasen, OIST, co–supervised by Judit Romhanyi (UCI): “Topology of band–like excitations in frustrated magnets and their experimental signatures” (2021)
  • Ankur Dhar, OIST, co–supervised by Tsumoru Shintake: “Imaging Monopoles in Spin Ice via Electron Holography” (2020)
  • Han Yan, OIST, co–supervised by Hirotaka Suguwara: “Fracton States of Matter: From Holography to Frustrated Magnetism” (2020)
  • Rico Pohle, OIST: “Signatures of Novel Spin Liquids in Kagome-like Lattices” (2017)
  • Owen Benton, University of Bristol: “Classical and Quantum spin liquids on the pyrochlore lattice” (2014)
  • Andrew Smerald, University of Bristol: “Theory of the nuclear magnetic 1/T1 relaxation rate in conventional and unconventional magnets” (2012)
  • Luis Seabra, University of Bristol: “Novel phases in Frustrated Magnets under High Magnetic Field” (2010)

Selected Publications 

   "Theory of multiple-phase competition in pyrochlore magnets with  anisotropic exchange, with application to Yb2Ti2O7, Er2Ti2O7 and Er2Sn2O7"
   Han Yan, Owen Benton, L.D.C. Jaubert and Nic Shannon
   Phys. Rev. B 95 094422 (2017)

   "Seeing the light : experimental signatures of emergent electromagnetism in a quantum spin ice"
   Owen Benton, Olga Sikora and Nic Shannon
   Physical Review B 86, 075154 (2012)

   "Quantum Ice : a quantum Monte Carlo study"
   Nic Shannon, Olga Sikora, Frank Pollmann, Karlo Penc and Peter Fulde
   Physical Review Letters 108, 067204 (2012) 

   "Nematic Order in Square Lattice Frustrated Ferromagnets"
   Nic Shannon, Tsutomu Momoi, and Philippe Sindzingre,
   Physical Review Letters 96, 027213 (2006)

   "Half-Magnetization Plateau Stabilized by Structural Distortion in the Antiferromagnetic Heisenberg Model on a Pyrochlore Lattice"
  Karlo Penc, Nic Shannon, and Hiroyuki Shiba
   Physical Review Letters 93, 197203 (2004)

Publications

  • ​As listed in Google Scholar
  • As listed in ORCID [0000-0001-9258-1583]​
  • As listed in​ SCOPUS [12762070500]
  • As listed by Researcher ID [N-3874-2014]

Preprints

Grants