Senior Laser Systems Engineer – Fiber & Free-Space Design

MKS Instruments, Inc.; Milpitas (CA); On-site; USD 139,000 - 231,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health insurance

401(k) with company match

Life and disability insurance

12 paid holidays

15 paid vacation days

Parental leave (6 weeks)

Job summary

MKS Instruments, Inc. invites applications for a Principal Laser Engineer to lead optical design and prototype work on fiber-based and free-space laser systems.

You will collaborate with mechanical, electrical, software, and manufacturing teams to transfer designs to production. The role demands an MS or PhD with substantial laser optics experience, advanced beam control skills, and proficiency with MATLAB/ZEMAX/SNLO.

Qualifications

• MS degree in Engineering, Physics, Materials Science, Chemistry, or a related field required and 5+ years industry experience or PhD and 2+ years industry experience
• Hands‑on experience with passive and active fibers and fiber‑optics components, including fiber preparation and splicing and components characterization
• In‑depth knowledge of various fiber types, their advantages and disadvantages, and typical use.
• Experience in making proper fiber and fiber component selection for different applications
• Hands‑on experience in free‑space beam and optical cavity alignment
• Experience with Gaussian beam propagation software tools
• Familiar with optical non‑linear processes (SHG, SPM, SBS, Raman etc.)
• Familiar with sub‑picosecond pulse generation, measurement and characterization
• Hands‑on experience with operating and characterizing acousto‑optic and electro‑optic modulators and pulse selectors
• Proven ability to independently define opto‑electronic measurement procedures, set up and perform the measurements, evaluate the results and clearly communicate the conclusions to peer engineers and management
• Proven experience with optical measurement instruments: beam parameters analyzers, power meters, auto‑correlators, fast opto‑electronics, oscilloscopes, spectrum analyzers and spectrometers, scanning interferometers

Responsibilities

• Serve as a technical expert for the optical design of fiber-based and free space lasers
• Execute experiments to test conceptual designs and to document optical system performance
• Use software computational tools to aid in the design and analysis of optical system performance
• Work with mechanical and electrical engineers to assist in evaluating and documenting opto‑mechanical and electro‑optical specifications
• Define test strategies, build, test and document system prototypes: measure optical and opto‑electronic parameters and evaluate results, create test reports and generate design documentation including optical diagrams, drawings, and optical components specifications
• Work with optical component vendors for component procurement, and to complete performance and reliability evaluation
• Work in a multi‑disciplinary team and interact with Electrical, Mechanical, Software and Manufacturing Engineers on new product development and to transfer the design to production
• Guide and train technicians on newly developed processes and optical measurement techniques
• Collaborate with cross‑functional teams to meet project milestones and customer requirements

Skills

Optical design

Fiber lasers

Beam alignment

Experimental testing

Python

Education

MS degree in Engineering/Physics/Materials Science or related

PhD in related field

Tools

ZEMAX

FRED

MATLAB

SNLO

Job description

MKS Instruments, Inc. invites applications for a Principal Laser Engineer to lead optical design and prototype work on fiber-based and free-space laser systems.

You will collaborate with mechanical, electrical, software, and manufacturing teams to transfer designs to production. The role demands an MS or PhD with substantial laser optics experience, advanced beam control skills, and proficiency with MATLAB/ZEMAX/SNLO.