Optical Engineer - EOSL-; Entry-Junior Level

The Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) is the nonprofit, applied research division of the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech).Founded in 1934 as the Engineering Experiment Station, GTRI has grown to more than 2,900 employees, supporting eight laboratories in over 20 locations around the country and performing more than $940 million of problem-solving research annually for government and industry.

GTRI's renowned researchers combine science, engineering, economics, policy, and technical expertise to solve complex problems for the U.S. federal government, state, and industry.

Georgia Tech's mission is to develop leaders who advance technology and improve the human condition. The Institute has nine key values that are foundational to everything we do:

• 1. Students are our top priority.
• 2. We strive for excellence.
• 3. We thrive on diversity.
• 4. We celebrate collaboration.
• 5. We champion innovation.
• 6. We safeguard freedom of inquiry and expression.
• 7. We nurture the wellbeing of our community.
• 8. We act ethically.
• 9. We are responsible stewards.

Over the next decade, Georgia Tech will become an example of inclusive innovation, a leading technological research university of unmatched scale, relentlessly committed to serving the public good; breaking new ground in addressing the biggest local, national, and global challenges and opportunities of our time; making technology broadly accessible; and developing exceptional, principled leaders from all backgrounds ready to produce novel ideas and create solutions with real human impact.

The Photonics and Microelectronics Division (PMD) in the Electro-Optical Systems Laboratory (EOSL) of GTRI is searching for an early-career Optical Engineer willing and able to work on multiple projects within the Division, as the need arises, including conducting laboratory experiments, modeling experimental data, and building hardware. PMD currently performs advanced research and development that involves development and packaging of photonic / RF / fiber optic subsystems, photonic integrated circuits, RF/millimeter-wave devices, advanced materials and components, and spacecraft hardware.

Components and sub-systems are used in a variety of systems and applications, primarily for aerospace and national security platforms. The successful candidate will support work across the Division, as described in the Additional Responsibilities section.

The PMD team is skilled in fiber optics and comms; building optical & RF subsystems with both discrete components & ICs; design, simulation, fabrication, packaging and measurement of RF and photonic ICs and subsystems; synthesis and deposition of advanced materials and semiconductors; materials physics and chemistry; and weathering of materials in low earth orbit. PMD is a leader in the Georgia Tech Microelectronics community as well as the Space Technology community.

GTRI offers a dynamic, collaborative environment, where research faculty generate new ideas for projects to serve the needs of the warfighter and national security, with opportunities to perform on projects outside the division to broaden their knowledge & experience.

An Optical Engineer leverages knowledge and skills from the fields of optical sciences and optics manufacturing to research, design, model, analyze, assemble, integrate, and test complex EO-IR systems for applications in imaging, remote sensing, and telecommunications. The optical engineer gathers system requirements and translates them into optical specifications, tolerances, and error budgets based on performance/capability objectives and system lifecycle. Derived requirements reflect environmental and platform challenges and constraints such as temperature, vibration, shock, humidity, etc.

Performs sensitivity analysis, link budget/radiometry, pointing stability, and stray light analysis through leveraging modeling and simulation tools that also enable analysis of alternatives and trades studies activities. Determines sources for commercial and custom optical components including: lenses, mirrors, holographic optical elements, mounts, lasers, fiber-optics, adaptive optical elements, optical scanners, and metrology equipment. Designs end-to-end optical layouts, optical alignment procedures, and characterization procedures in support of implementation into final systems.

• Layout simple optical designs in optical modeling software per…