Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physicist (PhD) at Mercor

AMO Physicist (PhD) | $80-110/hr | Remote

About the work

CritPt is a public benchmark of research-level physics challenges that tests whether frontier AI models can do genuine physics research reasoning rather than textbook problem solving. The team is engaging physicists to work on research-level problems in their own subfield: creating problems, solving them, reviewing completed work, or auditing it, depending on your publication record. The specific assignment is agreed with you once you are matched to an area.

This is research-grade work, not volume work. Everything you produce must be complete enough for another specialist in your subfield to follow and verify independently, so written reasoning is part of every assignment. The benchmark paper (arXiv:2509.26574) is recommended reading before applying.

Research areas

You need published work on one of these specific phenomena, not AMO broadly:

• Strong-field and high-harmonic generation, structured light and angular momentum
• Levitated optomechanics: optical binding and dipole-dipole coupled oscillators
• Levitated optomechanics: torsional and librational modes of anisotropic nanoparticles
• Precision measurement: Penning-trap quantum cyclotron, cavity QED radiative shifts
• Ultracold atoms in optical lattices: tight-binding and Wannier parametrization
• Cavity QED: Jaynes-Cummings, dark states, open-system steady states
• Few-body physics: Efimov effect, hyperspherical methods, zero-range universality

Requirements

• PhD in atomic, molecular or optical physics or a closely related field (hard requirement). Postdocs, research scientists and junior faculty are the strongest fit; senior PhD students with a strong first-author record are welcome.
• Published on the specific phenomenon, not an adjacent one. Command of the methods is not enough without publications on the phenomenon itself — this is the most common reason otherwise excellent physicists are declined.
• Verifiable publication record: 3-5 representative papers with arXiv IDs or DOIs, ideally from the last five years, first author preferred. Every paper is checked against the public record.
• Tools: LaTeX, Python, SymPy and Jupyter; familiarity with an agentic coding extension in VS Code is useful. Gaps are acceptable if declared honestly.
• English at B2 or above, including written reasoning.

Application process

• Apply and complete the form: basic info, education, research experience, method self-attestation, and up to five areas you fit best, each with an arXiv ID or DOI of your own paper, your author position and the methods it demonstrates. Selections without proof are not scored.
• Your papers and authorship are verified against the public record.
• You are either onboarded directly or invited to a short live alignment call to agree the area and assignment.
• A 30-45 minute assessment may be added only where needed; most applicants will not see one.

Pay and schedule

$80-110 per hour, set by depth of subdomain match. 10 hours per week, sustained across an 8-10 week window, starting immediately. Remote and asynchronous with no fixed hours.