Senior Optical Engineer - Stray Light

Xcimer Energy•Quinte West, ON

2d•Onsite

About The Position

Xcimer Energy is seeking a Senior Stray Light Optical Engineer to be the primary technical authority on non-sequential ray tracing and stray light mitigation. This role focuses on modeling and designing complex optical layouts to identify and mitigate issues like ghosts, hot spots, and parasitic light paths that can degrade system performance or cause optical damage. The position is highly collaborative, involving close work with sequential optical designers, opto-mechanical engineers, material scientists, and optical systems engineers. Responsibilities include implementing mechanical feature models in non-sequential software, writing custom scripts for analysis automation, and ensuring high-energy DUV systems operate safely and efficiently.

Requirements

B.S. or M.S. degree in Optical Engineering, Physics, or a closely related field.
5+ years of dedicated experience in stray light analysis and non-sequential optomechanical modeling.
Expert-level proficiency in non-sequential optical design software, with a strong preference for FRED.
Demonstrated experience writing scripts to automate optical analysis and process ray trace data.
Strong understanding of stray light mitigation techniques, including the implementation of mechanical features (baffles, beam dumps) in optical models.
Solid foundation in physical optics, scattering (BSDF/BRDF), and diffraction.
Proven ability to work in a cross-collaborative environment with multi-disciplinary engineering teams.
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.

Nice To Haves

Ph.D. in Optical Engineering, Physics, or related field.
8+ years of experience in stray light analysis for high-energy laser systems or deep UV (DUV) applications.
Experience with Laser Induced Damage Thresholds (LIDT) and material fluorescence in the DUV regime.
Specific experience working on laser systems for Inertial Confinement Fusion (ICF) or similar high-fluence beam delivery systems.
Familiarity with stray light measurement instrumentation (e.g., scatterometers) to correlate empirical data with simulation models.
Experience importing and managing complex CAD geometry within FRED or other non-sequential optical simulation environments.

Responsibilities

Perform comprehensive non-sequential ray tracing (primarily using FRED software) to analyze stray light, ghost reflections, scattering, and diffraction in high-energy DUV laser systems.
Identify and mitigate high-fluence "hot spots" and fringing effects to prevent optical damage and ensure system longevity.
Implement and evaluate mechanical feature models (such as baffles, apertures, and beam dumps) within non-sequential environments to actively mitigate stray light.
Write and maintain custom scripts (e.g., Python, MATLAB, or FRED script) to automate ray trace simulations, process large datasets, interface to other analysis tools and quantify system-level signal degradation.
Collaborate cross-functionally with sequential optical designers to optimize system layouts for stray light performance.
Work closely with opto-mechanical engineers to design and validate physical stray light mitigation hardware.
Partner with material scientists to evaluate Bidirectional Scattering Distribution Functions (BSDF/BRDF), surface roughness, and specialized UV-resilient absorptive coatings/materials.
Collaborate with Optical Systems Engineers to ensure stray light requirements are defined, met, and verified at the system level for ICF applications.