Develop adaptive optics systems for high-energy laser applications, including wave-optics models, control and optimization algorithms, beam shaping, wavefront sensing, deformable mirrors, alignment, calibration, and hardware integration. Characterize aberrations, turbulence, thermal drift, and vibration; define optical requirements and error budgets; collaborate with vendors and controls engineers; and document testing and calibration procedures for inertial fusion energy systems.
Xcimer Energy leverages decades of research on Inertial Fusion Energy (IFE) combined with groundbreaking new laser architecture. Our mission is to deploy fusion power plants to meet global decarbonization goals as fast as possible. Xcimer has assembled a team of leaders in tough tech, fusion science, and manufacturing with a track record of rapid execution. Supported by leading investors, Xcimer is uniquely positioned to deliver limitless, clean, fusion power to combat climate change. Join us in powering a better world with inertial fusion!
This is a full-time, onsite role based at our headquarters in Denver, CO.
As an Electro-Optical / Adaptive Optics Engineer, you will work across simulation and hardware: helping develop wave-optics propagation models that predict what the beamline will do, writing and tuning the control algorithms that correct it, and aligning and operating the AO hardware that closes the loop. You will help specify next-generation AO components and work with vendors to build them, alongside a multidisciplinary team of optical, mechanical, controls, and software engineers developing the surrounding systems in parallel.
Your work will directly contribute to improving beam quality, stability, and system performance, enabling the delivery of unprecedented laser capabilities for inertial fusion energy (IFE). We are looking for our engineers and scientists to apply their technical expertise, problem-solving skills, and dedication to quality to positively impact the future of energy!
Responsibilities:
- Develop and implement optimization routines for the adaptive optics control loop, and characterize their performance against measured data.
- Design and implement algorithms for spatial beam shaping using phase plates and adaptive optics.
- Align, calibrate, and operate adaptive optics hardware on a high-energy laser system, including deformable mirrors, wavefront sensors, and supporting diagnostics.
- Build auto-alignment methods and routines to make beamline setup repeatable and fast.
- Characterize the optical environment — aberration sources, thermal drift, vibration and jitter, beam path turbulence — and translate what you find into adaptive optics requirements.
- Leverage and improve wave-optics propagation code to model the laser systems, in close collaboration with the Xcimer Theory and Computation team, and anchor those models against measurements so predictions can be trusted.
- Contribute to wavefront error budgets and tolerance analyses spanning system to component level.
- Collaborate closely with vendors to develop and drive the next generation of AO platforms for Xcimer’s needs, with a focus on deformable mirrors and wavefront sensors.
- Work with control system engineers to integrate AO within the larger laser control system, helping define required controls, interlocks, and operator feedback/UI.
- Write and maintain the test plans, alignment procedures, and calibration records that let others reproduce your results.
- Maintain contamination-control discipline appropriate to deep-UV, high-fluence optics
Qualifications:
- Education: B.S. in optical science/engineering, physics, or a related field.
- Experience: 5+ years of optical science/engineering experience, including 3+ years directly related to adaptive optics systems.
- Experience developing adaptive optics systems using wavefront sensors and deformable mirrors, including established optimization and reconstruction methods.
- Experience with high-fidelity physical wave-optics propagation in the near and far field.
- Experience with hands-on optical subsystem integration and alignment.
- Experience working across multidisciplinary engineering fields including optical, opto-mechanical, software, and controls systems.
- Working proficiency in at least one of MATLAB, Python, or C/C++/C# for modeling, analysis, and hardware control.
- Must be a U.S. citizen or national, U.S. permanent resident (current Green Card holder), or lawfully admitted into the U.S. as a refugee or granted asylum.
Desired:
- M.S. or Ph.D. in optical engineering/science, physics, or a related field.
- 5+ years of experience directly related to adaptive optics.
- Depth in several of the following: turbulence characterization in beam paths; wavefront reconstruction and control law design; radiometry and imaging diagnostics; statistical and systems analysis; experimental work with high-energy laser systems.
- Experience with high-energy optical systems operating in the deep UV, including laser-induced damage considerations and contamination control.
- Experience designing adaptive optics coupled to beam pointing and jitter stabilization systems.
- Experience defining and flowing down adaptive optics requirements from system to component level.
- Familiarity with real-time control implementation — LabVIEW, embedded firmware, FPGA-based control, or low-latency computing architectures.
- Familiarity with opto-mechanical practice: kinematic and flexure mounting, adhesive bonding, cleanroom assembly, and STOP (structural-thermal-optical performance) analysis.
Equal Employment Opportunity
Xcimer Energy is proud to be an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer and is committed to attracting, retaining, and developing a highly qualified, diverse, and dedicated work force. Xcimer Energy hires and promotes people on the basis of their qualifications, performance, and abilities. We support the establishment and maintenance of a workplace that fosters trust, equality, and teamwork, in which all employees recognize and appreciate the diversity of individual team members. We provide all qualified applicants for employment and employees with equal opportunities for hire, promotion, and other terms and conditions of employment, regardless of their race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin/ethnicity, age, physical or mental disability, genetic factors, military/veteran status, or any other status or characteristic protected by federal, state, and/or local law. Xcimer Energy will consider for employment qualified applicants with criminal histories in a manner consistent with applicable federal, state, and local laws. For more information on “EEO Is the Law,” please see here and here.
Benefits
Xcimer offers a comprehensive benefits package designed to support employee health, well-being, and long-term success. Benefits include medical, dental, and vision coverage; basic and supplemental life insurance; short- and long-term disability; paid parental leave for employees at the time of birth or adoption; and a 401(k) with a company match of up to 6%. Eligible employees also receive equity, allowing them to share in the company’s long-term success.
Xcimer operates under a flexible Paid Time Off (ATO) approach. Rather than a fixed number of vacation days, employees are trusted to take the time they need to rest and recharge while meeting the expectations of their role and team. In addition, employees receive paid sick time, 13 company-paid holidays, and an annual paid company shutdown. Benefits are available to regular employees, including part-time and fixed-term roles, as well as interns, with eligibility varying by benefit.
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