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Photonics Engineers

It's a bright outlook for

This career will grow rapidly in the next few years.

Learn more about what they do.

Design technologies specializing in light information or light energy, such as laser or fiber optics technology.

Related: Electrical & Electronic Engineering Technologists & Technicians Electronics Engineers Mechatronics Engineers Microsystems Engineers Photonics Technicians

Industries: Government Manufacturing Professional, Science, & Technical

Summary
Details

Develop optical or imaging systems, such as optical imaging products, optical components, image processes, signal process technologies, or optical systems.
Design or redesign optical fibers to minimize energy loss.
Document photonics system or component design processes, including objectives, issues, or outcomes.
Develop or test photonic prototypes or models.
Design laser machining equipment for purposes such as high-speed ablation.
Select, purchase, set up, operate, or troubleshoot state-of-the-art laser cutting equipment.
Document photonics system or component design processes, including objectives, issues, or outcomes.
Select, purchase, set up, operate, or troubleshoot state-of-the-art laser cutting equipment.
Select, purchase, set up, operate, or troubleshoot state-of-the-art laser cutting equipment.
Design gas lasers, solid state lasers, infrared, or other light emitting or light sensitive devices.
Create or maintain photonic design histories.
Develop photonics sensing or manufacturing technologies to improve the efficiency of manufacturing or related processes.
Conduct research on new photonics technologies.
Design solar energy photonics or other materials or devices to generate energy.
Write reports or proposals related to photonics research or development projects.
Assist in the transition of photonic prototypes to production.
Design photonics products, such as light sources, displays, or photovoltaics, to achieve increased energy efficiency.
Read current literature, talk with colleagues, continue education, or participate in professional organizations or conferences to keep abreast of developments in the field.
Develop or test photonic prototypes or models.
Conduct testing to determine functionality or optimization or to establish limits of photonics systems or components.
Analyze, fabricate, or test fiber-optic links.
Write reports or proposals related to photonics research or development projects.
Write reports or proposals related to photonics research or development projects.
Design, integrate, or test photonics systems or components.
Analyze, fabricate, or test fiber-optic links.
Create or maintain photonic design histories.
Design electro-optical sensing or imaging systems.
Design, integrate, or test photonics systems or components.
Train operators, engineers, or other personnel.
Analyze system performance or operational requirements.
Design or develop new crystals for photonics applications.
Develop laser-processed designs, such as laser-cut medical devices.
Determine applications of photonics appropriate to meet product objectives or features.
Oversee or provide expertise on manufacturing, assembly, or fabrication processes.
Determine commercial, industrial, scientific, or other uses for electro-optical applications or devices.

Speaking
- Talking to others.
Learning Strategies
- Using the best training or teaching strategies for learning new things.
Coordination
- Changing what is done based on other people's actions.
Critical Thinking
- Thinking about the pros and cons of different ways to solve a problem.
Active Listening
- Listening to others, not interrupting, and asking good questions.
Negotiation
- Bringing people together to solve differences.
Monitoring
- Keeping track of how well people and/or groups are doing in order to make improvements.
Equipment Maintenance
- Planning and doing the basic maintenance on equipment.
Complex Problem Solving
- Noticing a problem and figuring out the best way to solve it.
Management of Material Resources
- Managing equipment and materials.
Operations Analysis
- Figuring out what a product or service needs to be able to do.
Judgment and Decision Making
- Thinking about the pros and cons of different options and picking the best one.
Quality Control Analysis
- Testing how well a product or service works.
Science
- Using scientific rules and strategies to solve problems.
Writing
- Writing things for co-workers or customers.
Installation
- Installing equipment, machines, wiring, or computer programs.
Reading Comprehension
- Reading work-related information.
Systems Analysis
- Figuring out how a system should work and how changes in the future will affect it.
Systems Evaluation
- Measuring how well a system is working and how to improve it.
Social Perceptiveness
- Understanding people's reactions.
Operation and Control
- Using equipment or systems.
Repairing
- Repairing machines or systems using the right tools.
Time Management
- Managing your time and the time of other people.
Persuasion
- Talking people into changing their minds or their behavior.
Programming
- Writing computer programs.
Instructing
- Teaching people how to do something.
Service Orientation
- Looking for ways to help people.
Equipment Selection
- Deciding what kind of tools and equipment are needed to do a job.
Troubleshooting
- Figuring out what is causing equipment, machines, wiring, or computer programs to not work.
Management of Financial Resources
- Making spending decisions and keeping track of what is spent.
Technology Design
- Making equipment and technology useful for customers.
Operations Monitoring
- Watching gauges, dials, or display screens to make sure a machine is working.
Management of Personnel Resources
- Selecting and managing the best workers for a job.
Mathematics
- Using math to solve problems.
Active Learning
- Figuring out how to use new ideas or things.

Extent Flexibility
- Bending, stretching, twisting, or reaching with your body, arms, and/or legs.
Far Vision
- Seeing details that are far away.
Hearing Sensitivity
- Telling the difference between sounds.
Sound Localization
- Noticing the direction that a sound came from.
Speech Clarity
- Speaking clearly.
Originality
- Creating new and original ideas.
Multilimb Coordination
- Using your arms and/or legs together while sitting, standing, or lying down.
Gross Body Coordination
- Moving your arms, legs, and mid-section together while your whole body is moving.
Static Strength
- Lifting, pushing, pulling, or carrying.
Response Orientation
- Quickly deciding if you should move your hand, foot, or other body part.
Memorization
- Remembering words, numbers, pictures, or steps.
Finger Dexterity
- Putting together small parts with your fingers.
Gross Body Equilibrium
- Keeping your balance or staying upright.
Written Expression
- Communicating by writing.
Information Ordering
- Ordering or arranging things.
Visual Color Discrimination
- Noticing the difference between colors, including shades and brightness.
Dynamic Flexibility
- Quickly and repeatedly bending, stretching, twisting, or reaching out with your body, arms, and/or legs.
Explosive Strength
- Jumping, sprinting, or throwing something.
Written Comprehension
- Reading and understanding what is written.
Speech Recognition
- Recognizing spoken words.
Dynamic Strength
- Exercising for a long time without your muscles getting tired.
Deductive Reasoning
- Using rules to solve problems.
Night Vision
- Seeing at night or under low light.
Auditory Attention
- Paying attention to one sound while there are other distracting sounds.
Arm-Hand Steadiness
- Keeping your arm or hand steady.
Oral Expression
- Communicating by speaking.
Visualization
- Imagining how something will look after it is moved around or changed.
Selective Attention
- Paying attention to something without being distracted.
Fluency of Ideas
- Coming up with lots of ideas.
Stamina
- Exercising for a long time without getting out of breath.
Trunk Strength
- Using your lower back and stomach.
Speed of Limb Movement
- Quickly moving your arms and legs.
Problem Sensitivity
- Noticing when problems happen.
Time Sharing
- Doing two or more things at the same time.
Depth Perception
- Deciding which thing is closer or farther away from you, or deciding how far away it is from you.
Oral Comprehension
- Listening and understanding what people say.
Speed of Closure
- Quickly knowing what you are looking at.
Flexibility of Closure
- Seeing hidden patterns.
Perceptual Speed
- Quickly comparing groups of letters, numbers, pictures, or other things.
Near Vision
- Seeing details up close.
Rate Control
- Changing when and how fast you move based on how something else is moving.
Peripheral Vision
- Seeing something to your side when your are looking ahead.
Number Facility
- Adding, subtracting, multiplying, or dividing.
Glare Sensitivity
- Seeing something even if there is a glare or very bright light.
Mathematical Reasoning
- Choosing the right type of math to solve a problem.
Spatial Orientation
- Knowing where things are around you.
Manual Dexterity
- Holding or moving items with your hands.
Reaction Time
- Quickly moving your hand, finger, or foot based on a sound, light, picture or other command.
Control Precision
- Quickly changing the controls of a machine, car, truck or boat.
Wrist-Finger Speed
- Making fast, simple, repeated movements of your fingers, hands, and wrists.
Inductive Reasoning
- Making general rules or coming up with answers from lots of detailed information.
Category Flexibility
- Grouping things in different ways.

Economics and Accounting
- Knowledge of economic and accounting principles and practices, the financial markets, banking, and the analysis and reporting of financial data.
Physics
- Knowledge and prediction of physical principles, laws, their interrelationships, and applications to understanding fluid, material, and atmospheric dynamics, and mechanical, electrical, atomic and sub-atomic structures and processes.
Law and Government
- Knowledge of laws, legal codes, court procedures, precedents, government regulations, executive orders, agency rules, and the democratic political process.
Telecommunications
- Knowledge of transmission, broadcasting, switching, control, and operation of telecommunications systems.
Fine Arts
- Knowledge of the theory and techniques required to compose, produce, and perform works of music, dance, visual arts, drama, and sculpture.
Philosophy and Theology
- Knowledge of different philosophical systems and religions. This includes their basic principles, values, ethics, ways of thinking, customs, practices, and their impact on human culture.
Chemistry
- Knowledge of the chemical composition, structure, and properties of substances and of the chemical processes and transformations that they undergo. This includes uses of chemicals and their interactions, danger signs, production techniques, and disposal methods.
Personnel and Human Resources
- Knowledge of principles and procedures for personnel recruitment, selection, training, compensation and benefits, labor relations and negotiation, and personnel information systems.
Computers and Electronics
- Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.
Therapy and Counseling
- Knowledge of principles, methods, and procedures for diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of physical and mental dysfunctions, and for career counseling and guidance.
Medicine and Dentistry
- Knowledge of the information and techniques needed to diagnose and treat human injuries, diseases, and deformities. This includes symptoms, treatment alternatives, drug properties and interactions, and preventive health-care measures.
Food Production
- Knowledge of techniques and equipment for planting, growing, and harvesting food products (both plant and animal) for consumption, including storage/handling techniques.
Building and Construction
- Knowledge of materials, methods, and the tools involved in the construction or repair of houses, buildings, or other structures such as highways and roads.
Public Safety and Security
- Knowledge of relevant equipment, policies, procedures, and strategies to promote effective local, state, or national security operations for the protection of people, data, property, and institutions.
Design
- Knowledge of design techniques, tools, and principles involved in production of precision technical plans, blueprints, drawings, and models.
Production and Processing
- Knowledge of raw materials, production processes, quality control, costs, and other techniques for maximizing the effective manufacture and distribution of goods.
Psychology
- Knowledge of human behavior and performance; individual differences in ability, personality, and interests; learning and motivation; psychological research methods; and the assessment and treatment of behavioral and affective disorders.
Sales and Marketing
- Knowledge of principles and methods for showing, promoting, and selling products or services. This includes marketing strategy and tactics, product demonstration, sales techniques, and sales control systems.
Mathematics
- Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.
Education and Training
- Knowledge of principles and methods for curriculum and training design, teaching and instruction for individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects.
History and Archeology
- Knowledge of historical events and their causes, indicators, and effects on civilizations and cultures.
English Language
- Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
Geography
- Knowledge of principles and methods for describing the features of land, sea, and air masses, including their physical characteristics, locations, interrelationships, and distribution of plant, animal, and human life.
Administrative
- Knowledge of administrative and office procedures and systems such as word processing, managing files and records, stenography and transcription, designing forms, and workplace terminology.
Biology
- Knowledge of plant and animal organisms, their tissues, cells, functions, interdependencies, and interactions with each other and the environment.
Communications and Media
- Knowledge of media production, communication, and dissemination techniques and methods. This includes alternative ways to inform and entertain via written, oral, and visual media.
Engineering and Technology
- Knowledge of the practical application of engineering science and technology. This includes applying principles, techniques, procedures, and equipment to the design and production of various goods and services.
Mechanical
- Knowledge of machines and tools, including their designs, uses, repair, and maintenance.
Transportation
- Knowledge of principles and methods for moving people or goods by air, rail, sea, or road, including the relative costs and benefits.
Sociology and Anthropology
- Knowledge of group behavior and dynamics, societal trends and influences, human migrations, ethnicity, cultures, and their history and origins.
Administration and Management
- Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.
Foreign Language
- Knowledge of the structure and content of a foreign (non-English) language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition and grammar, and pronunciation.
Customer and Personal Service
- Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.

Education

Bachelor's degree

Work Experience

No work experience

Training

No on-the-job training

Education and Training Opportunities

Washington Annual Salary

125080/yr

Washington Hourly Wage

60.14/hr

Currently Employed

4,670

Yearly Projected Openings

350

Investigative: People interested in this work like activities that include ideas, thinking, and figuring things out. They do well at jobs that need:

Analytical Thinking
Attention to Detail
Dependability
Innovation
Integrity
Achievement/Effort

Bench refractometers or polarimeters
Chromatographic detectors
Cryostats
Digital cameras
Electron microscopes
Flowmeters
Fluorescent microscopes
Frequency counters or timer or dividers
Fume hoods or cupboards
Graphic recorders
HEPA filtered enclosures
Infrared imagers
Interferometers
Isolation glove boxes
Laboratory safety furnaces
Laser beam analyzers
Laser fax machine
Laser printers
Lasers
Level generators
Lux or light meter
Optical choppers
Oscilloscopes
Personal computers
Polarimeters
Power meters
Reflectometers
Scanning electron microscopes
Scanning light or spinning disk or laser scanning microscopes
Scanning probe microscopes
Semiconductor process systems
Semiconductor testers
Spectrofluorimeters or fluorimeters
Spectrometers
Spectrophotometers
Temperature cycling chambers or thermal cyclers
Tumblers or polishers
Utility knives
Vibration testers
Voltage or current meters
Xenon lamp

Analytical or scientific software
Computer aided design CAD software
Data base user interface and query software
Development environment software
Electronic mail software
Geographic information system
Map creation software
Object or component oriented development software
Office suite software
Operating system software
Presentation software
Process mapping and design software
Program testing software
Spreadsheet software
Web page creation and editing software
Word processing software

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Photonics Engineers

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