R&D Engineer

Responsibilities

• Collaborate with physicists and engineers to rapidly iterate designs and prototypes
• Work with electrical, mechanical, and optical engineers to create, assemble, and test complex sensor and clock hardware
• Procure mechanical and optical components
• Cook up and test vacuum systems
• Align lasers through single-mode optical fibers and through bulk electro-optic and acousto-optic devices
• Collaborate with electrical engineers to define, document, and implement PCB test plans
• Build and test prototype circuits and test fixtures
• Procure and maintain mechanical and optical test equipment
• Report results of validation testing

Requirements

• Demonstrated success in building complex optomechanical prototypes and products
• Willingness to become an expert at new fabrication disciplines
• Hands-on experience with precision test equipment
• Excellent analytical and troubleshooting skills

Desired Experience

• Skilled in mechanical prototyping, including basic machining and finishing operations
• Expertise in vacuum system design, assembly, and testing
• Basic understanding of Gaussian beam optics
• Experience with optical testing of polarization, wavefront flatness, reflectivity, optical phase shifts, beam aberrations, etc.
• Operational familiarity with laser frequency stabilization
• Skilled in electrical prototyping, including PCB fabrication, assembly, soldering, and rework
• Experience testing low-noise analog, mixed-signal, and rf electronics
• Basic knowledge of data acquisition and simulation software such as MATLAB, LabVIEW, Visual Basic, Python, and C or C++
• Experience with mechanical and optical design software (e.g., SolidWorks, COMSOL, ANSYS, Zemax, and FRED)
• Familiarity with OrCAD/Altium schematic capture and PCB layout
• Experience developing flight-qualified hardware
• Hands-on experience with optical test equipment