Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physicist
Listing checked September 25, 2026 · pay as published by Mercor
Overview
Mercor seeks physicists for CritPt, a public benchmark that tests whether frontier AI models can reason through research-level physics instead of textbook exercises. The work centers on one of seven AMO areas, from strong-field and high-harmonic generation to levitated optomechanics, cavity QED, and few-body physics. You may design problems, solve them, review completed work, or audit it, with the assignment agreed after you match to an area. Every output needs enough written reasoning for another specialist to follow and verify. Read arXiv:2509.26574 before applying to see if the benchmark matches your interests.
What You'll Do6
- 1Create research-grade physics problems tied to one published AMO phenomenon, such as Efimov physics or Penning-trap quantum cyclotron measurements.
- 2Solve benchmark challenges in your subfield and document each step so a specialist can check the logic.
- 3Review or audit completed problems and solutions against the methods and selection rules they claim to use.
- 4Map your publication record to the exact phenomenon and methods panel during assignment matching.
- 5Write clear arguments in LaTeX, then use Python, SymPy, and Jupyter to support derivations or numerical checks.
- 6Keep each deliverable at research level, not textbook level, with claims that trace back to known theory or data.
Requirements6
- 1PhD in atomic, molecular, or optical physics or a related discipline. This is a hard requirement.
- 2Published work on the specific phenomenon in one of the seven areas, not a neighboring topic. Command of methods alone does not qualify.
- 3List three to five representative papers with arXiv IDs or DOIs; first-author work from the last five years stands out most.
- 4Working knowledge of LaTeX, Python, SymPy, and Jupyter. Familiarity with an agentic coding extension in VS Code helps, and declared gaps are acceptable.
- 5English at B2 level or above, with clear written reasoning.
- 6Proof of at least one method family from your own publications: light-matter, trap and oscillator dynamics, open quantum systems, precision QED, or lattice and few-body methods.
Who Should Apply
Postdoctoral researchers, research scientists, and junior faculty with a PhD in AMO physics fit this panel best, as do senior PhD students who hold a strong first-author record. The role rewards a narrow publication match: your papers must address the exact phenomenon, not just an adjacent method or a broad AMO topic. Candidates who cannot supply arXiv IDs or DOIs for their own work, or who list papers without stating their author position, often lose fit points before review. This work is less suitable for physicists whose publications sit in neighboring areas, for anyone seeking full-time volume production, and for applicants who cannot explain their derivations in written English at B2 level. If your record centers on the required phenomenon and you can point to the methods it uses, your application has a clear path.
Salary Insight
Mercor lists $80 to $110 per hour, with the exact rate set by how deep your subdomain match runs. That band matches senior research-grade physics consulting, and the top end goes to candidates whose publications hit one of the seven areas square. The engagement runs about 10 hours per week across an 8 to 10 week window, remote and asynchronous, so the rate reflects specialized part-time work rather than a full-time salary.
Location
Compensation
$80–110/hr
Required Skills
Application Tip
For each of the up to five areas you select, attach your own paper with its arXiv ID or DOI, state your author position, and name the methods that paper demonstrates. A first-author paper on the exact phenomenon beats a coauthored paper on a neighboring one, so put that proof first. Most applicants never see the optional 30 to 45 minute assessment, which makes a clean proof package the main scoring signal.
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