Profession optical engineer

Optical engineers design and develop different industrial applications with optics. They have knowledge of light, light transmission principles, and optics in order to design engineering specs of equipment such as microscopes, lenses, telescopes, and other optical devices.

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Personality Type

• Investigative / Realistic

Knowledge

• Optical equipment standards

  The national and international quality and safety standards and regulations with regards to the use and manufacture of optical equipment, including optical materials, optical components, optical systems, ophthalmic equipment, optomechanical equipment, optical measuring equipment, photographic equipment, and optoelectronic equipment.

• Design drawings

  Understand design drawings detailing the design of products, tools, and engineering systems.

• Optical manufacturing process

  The process and different stages of manufacturing an optical product, from design and prototyping to the preparation of optical components and lenses, the assembly of optical equipment, and the intermediate and final testing of the optical products and its components.

• Refractive power

  Refractive power or optical power is the degree to which an optical system, such as a lens, converges or diverges light. Diverging lenses possess negative refractive power, while converging lenses possess positive refractive power.

• Optical engineering

  Subdiscipline of engineering that deals with the development of optical instruments and applications, such as telescopes, microscopes, lenses, lasers, fibre optic communication, and imaging systems.

• Optical glass characteristics

  The characteristics of optical glass such as refractive index, dispersion, and chemical properties.

• Engineering principles

  The engineering elements like functionality, replicability, and costs in relation to the design and how they are applied in the completion of engineering projects.

• Types of optical instruments

  Possess information on the types of optical instruments and lenses, such as microscopes and telescopes, as well as on their mechanics, components, and characteristics.

• Optical components

  The components and materials necessary for building optical instruments, such as lenses and frames.

• Optics

  The science that studies the elements and reaction of light.

• Physics

  The natural science involving the study of matter, motion, energy, force and related notions.

• Mathematics

  Mathematics is the study of topics such as quantity, structure, space, and change. It involves the identification of patterns and formulating new conjectures based on them. Mathematicians strive to prove the truth or falsity of these conjectures. There are many fields of mathematics, some of which are widely used for practical applications.

Skills

• Adjust engineering designs

  Adjust designs of products or parts of products so that they meet requirements.

• Develop optical test procedures

  Develop testing protocols to enable a variety of analyses of optical systems, products, and components.

• Analyse test data

  Interpret and analyse data collected during testing in order to formulate conclusions, new insights or solutions.

• Perform scientific research

  Gain, correct or improve knowledge about phenomena by using scientific methods and techniques, based on empirical or measurable observations.

• Conduct quality control analysis

  Conduct inspections and tests of services, processes, or products to evaluate quality.

• Report analysis results

  Produce research documents or give presentations to report the results of a conducted research and analysis project, indicating the analysis procedures and methods which led to the results, as well as potential interpretations of the results.

• Design optical prototypes

  Design and develop prototypes of optical products and components using technical drawing software.

• Record test data

  Record data which has been identified specifically during preceding tests in order to verify that outputs of the test produce specific results or to review the reaction of the subject under exceptional or unusual input.

• Prepare production prototypes

  Prepare early models or prototypes in order to test concepts and replicability possibilities. Create prototypes to assess for pre-production tests.

• Conduct literature research

  Conduct a comprehensive and systematic research of information and publications on a specific topic. Present a comparative evaluative literature summary.

• Test optical components

  Test optical systems, products, and components with appropriate optical testing methods, such as axial ray testing and oblique ray testing.

• Model optical systems

  Model and simulate optical systems, products, and components using technical design software. Assess the viability of the product and examine the physical parameters to ensure a successful production process.

• Approve engineering design

  Give consent to the finished engineering design to go over to the actual manufacturing and assembly of the product.

• Operate scientific measuring equipment

  Operate devices, machinery, and equipment designed for scientific measurement. Scientific equipment consists of specialised measuring instruments refined to facilitate the acquisition of data.

Optional knowledge and skills

Source: Sisyphus ODB