Job Details
New ideas are all around us, but only a few will change the world. That’s our focus at JPL. We ask the biggest questions, then search the universe for answers—literally. We build upon ideas that have guided generations, then share our discoveries to inspire generations to come. Your mission—your opportunity—is to seek out the answers that bring us one step closer. If you’re driven to discover, create, and inspire something that lasts a lifetime and beyond, you’re ready for JPL.
Located in Pasadena, California, JPL has a campus-like environment situated on 177 acres in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains and offers a work environment unlike any other: we inspire passion, foster innovation, build collaboration, and reward excellence.
JPL is unique among NASA Centers in that its staff are Caltech employees yet can access NASA technical resources. Cross-discipline teamwork is standard here: colleagues across JPL's science and engineering organizations and on Caltech's academic campus often work together. Learning to speak and understand other disciplines' languages is a doorway to the creativity needed to do what has not been done before. JPL staff are encouraged to create mission concepts that address humanity's core questions through a combination of science and technology. They are supported in developing ideas into proposals and hardware, and in communicating funded missions' results to the scientific community and the broader public. JPL seeks to employ scientists and engineers who are passionate about lifelong learning and excited to both contribute to and lead team efforts. We emphasize the importance of partnering across discipline boundaries and creating a friendly, constructive work environment to overcome space exploration's challenges. The Postdoctoral scholars at JPL benefit from an informal mentoring network, an annual conference showcasing their results, a dedicated seminar series, exposure to diverse career paths, and social connections across the JPL and Caltech community for advice on housing, childcare, and other aspects of living in southern California.
JPL’s Optics and Spectroscopy Section is seeking a postdoc who will advance coronagraphic mask design and modeling, conducting research that enables the direct imaging of earth-like exoplanets with the Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO). The position offers opportunities to develop and validate vector diffraction models of coronagraphic optics, numerically optimize coronagraph masks, improve mask fabrication processes, run experiments on several coronagraph benches, and publish high-impact scientific results that advance the state of the art in high-contrast imaging.
Research Responsibilities
Conduct independent research on vector diffraction modeling of various coronagraphic masks.
Validate mask models with laboratory experiments on the High Contrast Imaging Testbed (HCIT) facility.
Develop requirements on mask fabrication tolerances and materials required in the contrast budget for HWO.
Perform coronagraphic mask optimization using algorithmic differentiation and other advanced methods.
Utilize artificial intelligence tools to improve the mask design and modeling processes.
Publish research findings in peer-reviewed journals and present results at national and international conferences.
Collaborate with multidisciplinary teams spanning numerical optimization, optical design, optical modeling, microdevices fabrication, and coronagraph testbeds.
Required Qualifications
Ph.D. in Optics, Astrophysics, Physics, Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or a closely related field.
Experience in high-contrast imaging, optical modeling, optical instrumentation, wavefront correction, or related experimental research.
Experience using finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) software packages such as MEEP or Lumerical.
Experience using clusters and GPUs for large computational tasks.
Proficiency in scientific programming using Python, MATLAB, or…