AR/VR Senior Optical Characterization Engineer

Work Your Magic with us! Start your next chapter and join EMD Electronics.

Ready to explore, break barriers, and discover more? We know you’ve got big plans – so do we! Our colleagues across the globe love innovating with science and technology to enrich people’s lives with our solutions in Healthcare, Life Science, and Electronics. Together, we dream big and are passionate about caring for our rich mix of people, customers, patients, and planet. That's why we are always looking for curious minds that see themselves imagining the unimaginable with us.  

Everything we do in EMD Electronics is to help us deliver on our purpose of being the company behind the companies, advancing digital living. We are dedicated to being the trusted supplier of high-tech materials, services and specialty chemicals for the electronics, automotive and cosmetics industries. We foster a global collaborative organization made up of individuals who have the passion to win, obsess about the customer, are relentlessly curious and act with urgency. Together, we push the boundaries of science to make more possible for our customers.

Your Role:

EMD Electronics is a recognized materials supplier, with multiple products being currently used in cutting edge Augmented and Virtual Reality Devices. In your role as Senior Optical Characterization Engineer, you will join our AR/VR Laboratory team to help us deepen our understanding on this technology. You will help us innovate and define our next generation materials and devices. You will be based at our Silicon Valley Research Center in San Jose, CA.

• Optical characterization of optical components used in Augmented Reality applications at the grating and combiner levels.
• Help us understanding our characterization needs and contribute to building our capabilities.
• Use optical modeling to compare expected vs actual optical response of gratings and waveguides. Help optimizing our process to achieve maximum performance.

Who you are:

Minimum Qualifications:

• MS in Physics, Optics or related field.
• Extensive experience characterizing the optical response of anisotropic films, gratings, and augmented reality waveguides.
• Familiarity with measuring and modeling full Mueller matrix ellipsometry data to extract relevant optical and physical parameters.
• Experience rapidly prototyping optical metrology set-ups to measure critical metrics.
• Experience modeling the optical response of augmented reality components such as gratings and waveguides. Ability to compare measured vs expected optical response.
• Ability to travel up to 20% of the time.
• Excellent communication skills.

Preferred Qualifications:

• PhD in Physics, Optics or related field.
• Experience measuring transmittance, specular and diffuse reflectance, haze, etc. of thin films using UV-VIS spectrophotometry and related techniques.
• Experience measuring topography of films and gratings using White Light Interferometry (WLI) profiler, contact profiler, AFM, SEM, etc. Previous experience using spectral reflectance to map film thickness.
• Experience characterizing the optical response of gratings to extract pitch, efficiency, angle, etc.
• Experience characterizing augmented reality waveguides at the combiner level using Image Quality Tester (IQT), Modulation Transfer Function (MTF) and related techniques. 
• Experience modeling the optical response of augmented reality components by using RCWA, FDTD, ray-tracing, and related formalisms. Experience with some of the commercial packages (VirtualLab, Zemax, LightTools, Code V, Lumerical, etc.) and self-written code in relevant languages (Python, Matlab, etc.).
• Previous experience with patterning and wet coating of reactive mesogen / liquid crystal polymer films or liquid crystal optics. Understanding of the process involved and how those impact the optical properties of the polymer films.

Pay Range for this position: $73,000 - $219,000

Our ranges incorporate all levels and career types available within this specific role, and are derived from relevant industry market data.  Should we decide to make an offer, we will consider several factors, including but not limited to your location, skills, experience, career level, and other job-related factors.  This role may offer the following benefits: medical, vision, and dental insurance; life insurance; disability insurance; a 401(k) matching program; paid time off; and paid holidays; among other employee benefits. This role may also be eligible for short-term or long-term incentive compensation, including, but not limited to, cash bonuses.

What we offer: We are curious minds that come from a broad range of backgrounds, perspectives, and life experiences. We celebrate all dimensions of diversity and believe that it drives excellence and innovation, strengthening our ability to lead in science and technology. We are committed to creating access and opportunities for all to develop and grow at your own pace. Join us in building a culture of inclusion and belonging that impacts millions and empowers everyone to work their magic and champion human progress!

Apply now and become a part of our diverse team!

If you would like to know more about what diversity, equity, and inclusion means to us, please visit https://www.emdgroup.com/en/company/press-positions.html