Optical Scientist - Pittsburgh, PA

The Leidos Research Support Team supporting the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) is seeking a Optical Scientist to join our team in Pittsburgh, PA. This opportunity will allow you to join an interdisciplinary team participating in developing new optical fiber sensor technologies for energy infrastructure sensing applications, with an emphasis on natural gas infrastructure.

NETL is a multi-disciplinary, scientific and technical-oriented national laboratory and the U.S. Department of Energy’s primary lab supporting fossil fuel-based energy research. The scientist/researcher will collaborate on an interdisciplinary team spanning industry, academic, and national laboratory partners that seeks to develop and demonstrate advanced sensors and enabling technologies for energy infrastructure monitoring applications. The team seeks a candidate with a strong background in distributed fiber optic interrogator development and fiber-optic devices and systems for physical and chemical sensing in energy infrastructure monitoring applications.

Location: This position is onsite at the NETL campus in Pittsburgh, PA.

Primary Responsibilities:

• Develop fiber-optic devices and sensing platforms to monitor the structural health of energy infrastructure with an emphasis on natural gas pipelines.
• Develop and prototype distributed optical fiber interrogators for long-distance and distributed sensing in both lab testing and field demonstration.
• Model the physics of light propagation in unaltered and functionalized optical fibers and interaction with surrounding media and external stimuli.
• Prototype, develop and deploy novel fiber-optics sensors for environmental conditions monitoring.
• Strong collaborative interactions are expected with material scientists as well as other device level scientists focused on the distributed gas and chemical sensing for natural gas pipelines. 
• Publications in high quality scientific peer-reviewed journals, presentations at national and international technical meetings
• Development of new intellectual property based on the innovative research
• Period status reporting and project reports (weekly/monthly/quarterly/annually) is required to update project managers and clients
• This position will require extensive interface with clients and potential collaborative partners, so excellent verbal and written communication skills are required.

Required Education, Experience & Other:

• PhD degree in Physics, Optics, Electrical Engineering or a related field of study. 
• Experience in distributed fiber optic interrogator development based on optical time-domain reflectometry (OTDR) and optical frequency-domain reflectometry (OFDR).
• Knowledge of optical spectroscopy techniques including UV/Vis/Near-IR, ellipsometry, fluorescence, fiber coating, fiber Bragg gratings, interferometric sensing, optical time-domain reflectometry (OTDR), optical frequency-domain reflectometry (OFDR), Rayleigh and other backscatter phenomena
• Hands-on familiarity with laboratory equipment such as lasers, photodiode detectors, fusion splicers, electro-optic modulators, spectrophotometer, oscilloscopes, optical spectrum analyzers, network analyzers, and LabVIEW based data acquisition and processing systems
• Experience with simulation of fiber-optics waveguide devices with algorithms such as Finite Difference Time Domain (FDTD), beam propagation method (BPM), Finite element method (FEM) using software packages such as MATLAB and COMSOL
• Must be able to meet the requirements for gaining access to work on the NETL campus

Preferred Qualifications:

• Excellent communication skills and a willingness and interest to collaborate in an interdisciplinary team environment to drive towards overall project and team objectives
• Post-doctoral experience in a government-owned national laboratory
• Strong background in Optics, fiber-optic sensing technologies and techniques
• Hands-on experience with optical fiber and designing optical systems
• Experience with design and development of optical fiber sensors and interrogators for long-distance natural gas pipeline monitoring

Come join the Leidos Research Support Team supporting the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL), where you’ll be able to work side by side conducting research with world-class scientists and engineers using state of the art equipment to contribute to new areas of basic and applied research; discover, integrate, and mature technology solutions to enhance the nation’s energy foundation and protect the environment for future generations. You will contribute to the development of patents, written reports, journal articles, and contribute to presentations on findings, highlights, and innovative solutions in DOE-sanctioned meetings, scientific conferences, and national committees. Explore the Research Support Services (RSS) contract for the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) here - https://netl.doe.gov/

Salary Range for this position: $90K to $100K

Original Posting Date:

2024-07-03

While subject to change based on business needs, Leidos reasonably anticipates that this job requisition will remain open for at least 3 days with an anticipated close date of no earlier than 3 days after the original posting date as listed above.

Pay Range:

Pay Range $81,250.00 - $146,875.00

The Leidos pay range for this job level is a general guideline only and not a guarantee of compensation or salary. Additional factors considered in extending an offer include (but are not limited to) responsibilities of the job, education, experience, knowledge, skills, and abilities, as well as internal equity, alignment with market data, applicable bargaining agreement (if any), or other law.