What are the responsibilities and job description for the Instrumentation Physicist position at xLight Inc.?
About the Company
xLight is building the world’s most powerful laser to revolutionize semiconductor lithography, metrology, and for other critical applications. Our approach harnesses the power of free-electron lasers, building on accelerator technology in use globally at scientific user facilities. Extending this technology, we are developing industrial-grade light sources, engineered for continuous operation, to meet the sophisticated demands of next-generation patterning, metrology, and inspection applications. Join us in this new revolution.
About the Role
Bringing xLight’s industrial free‑electron laser to life requires a comprehensive diagnostics suite: instruments that measure beam position, profile, loss, energy, and timing across the entire accelerator. Turning this suite into reality demands not only models and specifications, but also careful experiments, practical validation, and an experimentalist’s judgment. xLight is seeking an Instrumentation Physicist to play a leading role from an experimental perspective. In this role, you will help define what each instrument must do, where it should be placed, and how its performance will be verified on the bench and with beam. You will work closely with accelerator physicists, hardware and controls engineers, and vendors to carry diagnostics from early concept through a final design review and into commissioning. The ideal candidate is a hands-on experimentalist who is as comfortable in the lab or at the beamline as at a whiteboard. You enjoy designing and running experiments, interpreting real-world data, and turning abstract goals into practical diagnostic solutions. This is a full-time appointment based in Palo Alto, California with hybrid options supported.
Responsibilities
- Develop and maintain diagnostics requirements, including resolution, dynamic range, accuracy, and availability targets for key instruments (e.g., beam position, beam loss, profile, bunch length, energy, timing).
- Work with accelerator physicists to determine diagnostic placement, using both modeling and experimental insight to support commissioning, tuning, machine protection, and operations.
- Conduct simulations and design studies of instrumentation physics related to e.g. Transverse Deflecting Cavities, Synchrotron Light Monitors, Beam Loss Monitors, etc.
- Design and carry out bench-top and, when possible, beamline experiments to validate prototypes.
- Contribute to the development of digital twins, virtual commissioning, and surrogate modeling tools that incorporate realistic beam responses and measurements.
- Coordinate procurement and manufacturing of COTS and semi-custom diagnostic solutions with internal xLight teams and external contractors, including defining comparison criteria, planning test campaigns, and participating in design reviews.
- Develop calibration and commissioning procedures for diagnostics.
- Owning lifecycle for selected diagnostics (concept → commissioning), and tracking milestones and risks.
Qualifications
- PhD or MS in Accelerator Physics, Experimental Physics, Electrical Engineering, or a related field.
- 3 years of experience designing, executing, and analyzing experiments with advanced instrumentation (accelerators, light sources, large-scale experiments, or similar).
- Hands-on experience with laboratory or beamline diagnostics, such as profile monitors, beam position monitors, spectrometers, or timing/arrival-time systems.
- Experience using physics-based models and data analysis to assess instrument performance, including resolving discrepancies between model and measurement.
- Proficiency with numerical and scripting tools such as Python or Matlab for analysis, simple simulations, and experimental data processing.
- Strong communication skills and comfort working across disciplines (physics, hardware, controls, vendors), including contributing to specifications and design reviews.
Required Skills
- Experience commissioning diagnostics or working as a user at a particle accelerator, synchrotron light source, or free‑electron laser facility.
- Experience developing or refining calibration procedures, run plans, or diagnostic checkout procedures for complex experiments.
- Experience developing or using digital twins, virtual commissioning workflows, or surrogate modeling tools that incorporate realistic beam responses and measurements.
- Familiarity with control systems (e.g., EPICS) and how diagnostics data is used in tuning and operations.
- Experience with radiation transport, synchrotron radiation, or ultrafast/THz diagnostics, especially in an experimental context.
US citizenship or permanent residence is required.
Equal Opportunity Statement
xLight Inc. is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Our policy is clear: there shall be no discrimination on the basis of age, disability, sex, race, religion or belief, gender reassignment, marriage/civil partnership, pregnancy/maternity, or sexual orientation. We are an inclusive organization and actively promote equality of opportunity for all with the right mix of talent, skills and potential. We welcome all applications from a wide range of candidates. Selection for roles will be based on individual merit alone.