Physics Expert (AMO / Optical Properties of Materials)

On this listing, the AI interview is the job

Worth reading the scope of work carefully, because this role is structured unusually. One of its listed duties is:

Participate in adaptive, spoken AI interviews, responding to one question at a time and providing clear, concrete examples from legally shareable research or projects.

That is not a screening step. It sits in the scope of work, alongside the physics, so being interviewed about your expertise appears to be a substantial part of what you are paid to do.

If that sounds unfamiliar, it is worth understanding how the interviewer behaves before you start: it adapts to your answers, and it will take clarifying questions. Our guide to the AI interview covers what is published about it.

What you'll do

The physics is narrow and deep. You give expert input on atomic, molecular and optical physics with an emphasis on the optical properties of materials, and specifically:

• Review, analyse and discuss ab initio configuration interaction methods for calculating polarizability in atomic systems
• Guide and critique atomic-structure calculations for the Yb-171 and Yb-174 isotopes
• Identify and differentiate sigma and pi transitions in atomic spectra, and explain the physics underneath rather than just labelling them

Those two ytterbium isotopes are not a general-purpose choice; they are the isotopes at the centre of optical atomic clock work and neutral-atom quantum computing. The ad names neither the customer nor the application, and we are not going to guess at either, but the specificity tells you the project is a real one with a defined problem rather than a broad data-collection push.

What you need

• An advanced degree (MSc, PhD, or equivalent experience) in physics, focused on AMO physics or the optical properties of materials
• Proven experience with ab initio quantum chemistry calculations, specifically configuration interaction approaches to polarizability
• Deep understanding of atomic-structure computation, particularly applied to Yb-171 and Yb-174
• The ability to identify and explain sigma versus pi transitions in atomic contexts
• Clear, structured scientific communication, written and spoken

These are filed under "preferred qualifications", but a role this specific does not have a wide pool to relax them for. Note that "equivalent experience" is accepted in place of the degree.

"Legally shareable" is doing real work in that sentence

The ad asks for concrete examples from legally shareable research or projects. That qualifier deserves attention if you are the kind of physicist this listing is aimed at, because most of you are not free agents with your material.

If your work sits under an employer's IP assignment, a government or defence contract, an NDA with a collaborator, an export-control regime, or an unpublished-results embargo from a funder or journal, then the most relevant examples you have may be exactly the ones you cannot use. Ytterbium atomic-structure work in particular overlaps with areas where those constraints are common.

The obligation is put on you, with no guidance on where the line falls. Work out in advance which of your projects you can actually discuss, before you are in an adaptive interview being asked for specifics. Published papers, open-source codes and your own thesis are usually the safe ground.

What it pays

$100–200/hour. At 5 to 10 hours a week, that is roughly $500 to $2,000 a week if the hours are available.

The band is $100 wide with no published basis for placement within it, and the ad carries no compensation-structure section at all. Given that a chunk of the work is spoken interviews, whether you are paid for interview time or per accepted contribution is an open question that affects what you earn. Ask before you accept.

Worth knowing

Good:

• Explicitly open worldwide and fully remote
• $100–200/hour for expertise that is otherwise almost impossible to monetise in small increments
• 5 to 10 hours a week, fully flexible, with after-hours and weekends accommodated, designed to sit alongside a postdoc, a faculty post or an industry job
• "Equivalent experience" is accepted in place of the advanced degree
• Ten openings on a specialism this narrow is a generous intake
• The problem is concrete and clearly defined

Less good:

• The specialism is extremely narrow. If you have not worked on ytterbium atomic structure or CI polarizability specifically, adjacent AMO experience may not be enough
• No compensation structure stated, which matters more here because part of the work is being interviewed rather than producing an artefact
• A $100-wide band with no published basis for where in it you land
• The "legally shareable" constraint may exclude your most relevant work, and no guidance is offered on it
• No start timeline, no project duration, and the customer is not named
• Contractor engagement: no benefits, no notice period, your own tax to manage
• 5 to 10 hours a week is a small engagement; treat it as supplementary income rather than a replacement

About this listing

Posted by micro1 on its own jobs portal, confirmed open on 7 September 2026. The $100–200/hour band, the worldwide availability, the hours, the scope of work and every qualification above are its own published text for this listing.

The observation that Yb-171 and Yb-174 are the isotopes used in optical clock and neutral-atom quantum computing work is general physics context we have added; the ad names neither the customer nor the application, and we have not inferred one. No language requirement is stated, so that field is left empty. We could not verify the pay structure, whether interview time is paid, or the per-task rate; none is stated. The ad calls the role worldwide; platform-wide eligibility rules still apply and are on the micro1 page.