Your role and responsibilities:We are seeking a Senior Photonic Engineer - Integrated Homodyne to participate in designing, developing and experimentally validating cutting-edge photonic systems. You will be working with photonic chips that include networks of high-speed electro-optic modulators and integrated balanced homodyne detectors, with a particular focus on high-efficiency pulsed homodyne detection and pulsed quantum homodyne tomography.
Key Responsibilities:
- Design, build and upgrade complex optical laboratory experiments to characterize the performance of photonic integrated chips with electro-optic elements, using continuous-wave and pulsed laser light.
- Characterize and benchmark the performance of integrated balanced homodyne detectors for pulsed signals, with bandwidths in the hundreds of MHz regime.
- Design and build new characterization strategies as needed, to fit evolving optical/electrical requirements.
- Measure figures of merit including detection efficiency, noise clearance, effective bandwidth, common-mode rejection, cross-talk etc.
- Benchmark and drive further development of signal processing techniques for pulsed homodyne detection & homodyne tomography of quantum states of light.
- Maintain up-to-date familiarity with research trends in measuring quantum states of light.
- Implement and maintain optical phase-locked loops and related frequency/phase stabilization; design and troubleshoot chip control electronics, PID controllers and high-precision locking schemes for ultra-stable electronic and optical systems; contribute to the development and assessment of new phase-locking and calibration protocols.
- Closely collaborate with PIC development, electrical, mechanical, and software engineering teams to ensure successful module integration.
- Generate detailed technical documentation, including design specifications, test procedures, characterization reports, and operational manuals.
Basic qualifications and experience:- Optics expertise: Hands-on experimental optics lab experience, with knowledge in integrated optics & fibre optics, locking optical interferometers & noise characterization.
- Homodyne detection: Direct experience with homodyne detection of optical signals. Experience with pulsed homodyne detection is preferred, but not required.
- Electronics: Working familiarity with opto-electronic detectors, transimpedance amplifiers; sound understanding of common RF electronics & electro-optic modulator concepts.
- Education: Ph.D. in Quantum Optics, Photonics, AMO, Electrical Engineering or a closely related field.
Preferred qualifications and experience:- Prior work experience: Greater than 4 years of experience in any of: quantum computing (particularly in optical quantum computing); thin-film lithium niobate modulators; or waveguide-integrated photodiodes.
- Advanced quantum optics: Demonstrated expertise in pulsed homodyne detection and homodyne tomography of quantum optical states, alongside familiarity with recent research in these areas.
- Autonomy and technical adaptability: The ability to independently design, build, and troubleshoot complex optical experiments and clearly communicate measurement-derived insights; the ability to rapidly absorb complex, proprietary architectures and master new experimental frameworks.
- Advanced Automation: Experience writing Python scripts for instrument control, hardware interfacing, and automated data acquisition.
- Modeling & Analysis Skills: Proven ability to build mathematical models of physical systems utilizing both analytical and numerical tools; expertise in advanced signal processing techniques.
- Co-packaged integration: Experience defining the physical, optical, and electrical interfaces between PICs and high-speed ASICs within a Co-Packaged Optics (CPO) framework.
