Silicon Photonics Characterisation and Design Engineer

Join CERN’s detector R&D program for future high-energy physics experiments, working on advanced optical communication technologies for next-generation particle detectors. Contribute to the development of radiation-tolerant Silicon Photonics components for high-speed data transmission in challenging environments, including hands-on laboratory characterisation and design of photonic devices.

Responsibilities

• Contribute to the electro-optical characterisation of custom-designed photonic integrated circuits (PICs).
• Validate the PIC measurement results against optical simulations.
• Support the integration and evaluation of PICs with particle readout chips (ROCs).
• Prototype and demonstrate coarse wavelength-division multiplexing (CWDM) data-transmission systems.
• Characterise and benchmark different data-link architectures.
• Simulate and design a new generation of test PICs based on measurement results from existing PICs.
• Present the progress to project meetings and conferences.
• Document measurement and simulation results and methods.

Requirements

• You are a national of a CERN Member State or Associate Member State (excluding Pakistani and Lithuanian nationals for 2026 start date).
• By the application deadline, you have a master’s degree with 2 to 6 years of professional experience since graduation or a PhD with a maximum of 3 years of professional experience since graduation.
• You are not eligible with only a bachelor’s degree.
• You have never had a CERN fellow or graduate contract before.
• Proven experience in design and simulation of photonic components and integrated photonic circuits.
• Experience in laboratory characterisation of optical and photonic components using OSAs, tunable lasers, and power meters.
• Proven experience in high-speed electro-optical measurements utilising pattern generators, oscilloscopes, error detectors, VNAs, and spectrum analysers.
• Hands-on experience in automation of measurement setups for opto-electronic devices.
• Extended experience in analysis and interpretation of experimental and measurement data.
• Your studies focused on Electronic Engineering or Physics.
• Expert user of photonic simulation tools (e.g., Ansys Lumerical, Synopsys RSoft).
• Proficient user of electronic and optical laboratory instrumentation, including high-speed measurement techniques.
• Expert user of C-based programming languages or Python.
• Expert in data analysis and visualisation using Python, MATLAB, or equivalent.
• Familiar with Linux-based development environments.
• Spoken and written English, with a commitment to learn French.

Skills

• Photonic Component Design
• Integrated Photonic Circuits
• Optical Characterisation
• Photonic Component Characterisation
• Optical Spectrum Analyzers
• Tunable Lasers
• Power Meters
• High-speed Electro-optical Measurements
• Pattern Generators
• Oscilloscopes
• Error Detectors
• Vector Network Analyzers
• Spectrum Analysers
• Measurement Setup Automation
• Experimental Data Analysis
• Photonic Simulation Tools
• Ansys Lumerical
• Synopsys RSoft
• Electronic Laboratory Instrumentation
• Optical Laboratory Instrumentation
• High-speed Measurement Techniques
• C programming
• Python Programming
• Data Analysis
• Data Visualization
• Matlab
• Linux Development Environment

Languages

English, French