Optical Engineer - High-Power Laser Beam Control

Electro Optic Systems International Pty Ltd; Canberra; On-site; AUD 120,000 - 170,000; Full time

Job summary

EOS is seeking an Optical Engineer to own the path from laser output to the target, covering beam expansion, relay optics, fast steering, and the beam director telescope. You will move between optical design software, the optical bench, the integration floor and the range, being accountable for as-built performance rather than a nominal design.

Every role in this team spends time in the field, with systems proven at test ranges and trial sites.

Qualifications

• Degree in optical engineering, physics or a closely related discipline.
• Minimum 3 years designing and integrating optical systems in an industrial or applied research setting.
• Demonstrated proficiency with optical design software such as Zemax OpticStudio, Code V or FRED, including tolerance analysis.
• Practical experience with interferometry, wavefront sensing and the alignment of multi-element optical systems.
• Working knowledge of optical coatings, substrates and laser induced damage in high power applications.
• Ability to specify optics to external vendors and to critically assess supplier test data against requirement.
• Comfortable moving between bench work, integration on the shop floor and testing in the field.
• Willingness to travel to the test range and trial sites regularly, including periods of out-of-hours work around demonstration campaigns.

Responsibilities

• Design beam director and beam path optical trains, including telescopes, relay optics, fast steering mirrors, dichroics and folded beam paths.
• Model optical performance including tolerance analysis, stray light, ghost paths and thermal effects under sustained high irradiance.
• Specify optics, substrates and coatings for high power operation, including damage threshold, absorption, wavefront and cleanliness requirements.
• Develop alignment strategies and procedures and translate them into build, integration and field maintenance instructions.
• Characterise as-built optical performance including wavefront error, boresight stability, transmission and encircled energy, and feed the results back into design.
• Support beam stabilisation and adaptive optics development in conjunction with the control systems and software teams.
• Work with mechanical design on opto-mechanical mounting, athermalisation, stiffness and adjustment strategy, and own the associated interface definitions.
• Produce optical design documentation, drawings, interface control documents and test reports within the EOS systems engineering framework.

Skills

Interferometry

Wavefront sensing

Optical alignment

Optical coatings

Education

Degree in optical engineering or physics

Postgraduate qualification in optics or photonics

Tools

Zemax OpticStudio

Code V

FRED

TracePro

Job description

EOS is seeking an Optical Engineer to own the path from laser output to the target, covering beam expansion, relay optics, fast steering, and the beam director telescope. You will move between optical design software, the optical bench, the integration floor and the range, being accountable for as-built performance rather than a nominal design.

Every role in this team spends time in the field, with systems proven at test ranges and trial sites.