Research Scientist — Metamaterials & Photonics

What the role is responsible for.

• Run fabrication and characterisation cycles on nanostructured optical samples, and keep the records that make them reproducible.
• Build and maintain the simulation models that precede each fabrication run.
• Contribute to internal technical notes and, where disclosure allows, to external publication.
• Support instrument calibration and cleanroom discipline on the shared photonics floor.
• Take one line of inquiry of your own, with supervision, and carry it to a result or a documented negative.

What we need you to bring.

• Doctorate or master's degree with research experience in photonics, optical materials, or applied electromagnetics.
• Hands-on cleanroom fabrication experience — lithography, deposition, or etch.
• Competence in electromagnetic simulation (FDTD, FEM, or equivalent) and in the scripting around it.
• Careful, legible laboratory record-keeping.
• Working English; Japanese is useful but not required.

Useful, not essential.

• Experience with mid-infrared or terahertz measurement.
• Exposure to thermal or radiative metamaterial design.
• Prior work in a shared national or institutional facility.

We read the preferred list as a description of a useful background, not a checklist. Candidates who meet the required list and none of the preferred are regularly hired.

Who you would be joining.

The Tsukuba campus runs photonic materials, metrology, and a fabrication line under one roof. The group is deliberately small and mixed-seniority; early-career researchers sit on the instrument floor rather than apart from it.

What to know before you apply.

Relocation and visa sponsorship are handled by the People division. Language support is available for the first two years.

All candidates undergo comprehensive vetting. Reasonable accommodation is available at any stage — say so in your first note and it will be arranged. We do not use unverified third-party recruiters, and we never ask a candidate for a fee.