Electronics Engineer

Caltech is a world-renowned science and engineering institute that marshals some of the world's brightest minds and most innovative tools to address fundamental scientific questions. We thrive on finding and cultivating talented people who are passionate about what they do. Join us and be a part of the diverse Caltech community.

Caltech Optical Observatories (COO) is seeking a talented Electrical Engineer or Physicist interested in scientific imaging technologies to join an enthusiastic and creative electronics team within the multidisciplinary Optical/Infrared (OIR) Instrumentation group. While fostering a community of respect, learning, and individual growth, the OIR group designs, fabricates, and commissions astronomical instrumentation systems for ground-based observatories such as Palomar, Gemini, Keck, as well as developing telescopes in space and the Antarctic.

The candidate will contribute to conceptualization, design, procurement, characterization, optimization, integration, and commissioning of state-of-the-art detector systems that advance the frontiers of human knowledge in astronomy, cosmology, and planetary science.

Previous and anticipated projects conducted by the COO detector team include deployment of ultraviolet, optical, and near-infrared detectors in large-format mosaics requiring rapid readout, spectrograph detector systems demanding exquisite noise performance, and fast-frame-rate detectors for adaptive optics (wavefront sensing in both optical and NIR). Our group is currently developing large-format charge-quantizing CCDs that do not suffer from the unacceptable readout time of previous implementations.

Additionally, the COO team conducts basic research into phenomena affecting the feasibility or design of future space missions and large telescopes, including how device physics limits measurement accuracy. To this end, COO has developed novel device characterization and calibration methods to mitigate these sources of systematic errors.

• Design, engineering, and optimization of imaging sensors and their operating modes, typically working in wavelengths from 120 nm to 5 m.
• Design, develop, and implement detector interface and control electronics, real-time low-noise data acquisition systems, and development of experimental setups.
• Develop sophisticated engineering specifications and test plans for detector systems.
• Develop measurement techniques and improve existing procedures and systems to obtain more accurate results.
• Develop or refine sophisticated models of image sensor behavior.
• Develop/modify software/firmware for interfacing and controlling detectors in the context of specialized astronomical instruments.
• Collaborate with an experienced detector team to investigate and/or mitigate the physical sources of errors in astronomical observations involving precision photometry, astrometry, or point spread function shape measurement.
• Thermal design of detector assemblies in cryogenic/vacuum systems.
• Troubleshooting and life cycle support for camera systems deployed at Caltech observatories.
• Design electronic interfaces, test-signal generators, illumination systems, and environmental controls.
• Write research reports, journal articles, and engineering design documentation, and user manuals.
• Collaborate with COO's multidisciplinary engineering team to develop new strategies, approaches, methods, and techniques for obtaining unprecedented astronomical data.

• Bachelor's degree in electrical engineering or physics, and 4+ years related experience or an equivalent combination of education and experience.
• Fluency with modern electronics design and data analysis software, statistical analysis techniques and experiment design.
• Experience in the integration of mixed hardware/software systems for demanding performance applications. Ability to perform independent system design, integration, and troubleshooting.
• Demonstrated ability to conceptualize and capture requirements, and to document designs and interfaces.
• Excellent communication and organizational skills are essential.
• Must work collaboratively within multi-disciplinary technical and…