Job Description

Facebook's mission is to give people the power to build community and bring the world closer together. Through our family of apps and services, we're building a different kind of company that connects billions of people around the world, gives them ways to share what matters most to them, and helps bring people closer together. Whether we're creating new products or helping a small business expand its reach, people at Facebook are builders at heart. Our global teams are constantly iterating, solving problems, and working together to empower people around the world to build community and connect in meaningful ways. Together, we can help people build stronger communities - we're just getting started.

At Facebook Reality Labs (FRL), we are developing the future of Portal, wearable, virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) products. As a Liquid Crystal Technologies and Optics Engineer, you will be responsible for development and productization of precision optical components based on LC technologies that are at the core to delivering transformative experiences for next generation Facebook’s AR and VR products. You will join a team that is working on radically new concepts and approaches required because of new constraints imposed by advanced AR/VR devices. You will develop prototypes and products and establish new process capabilities with supply-chain partners and releasing product sub-systems that are fully hardened for high-volume manufacturing. We want people who work well in teams comprising a wide range of disciplines, who seamlessly transition between brainstorming big ideas and paying attention to those critical details that enable the technologies’ success. Based on a robust engineering background and a data driven approach, ideal candidates should demonstrate experience through a successful track record of bringing products from concept into mass production. We are currently seeking innovative talents with experience designing and modeling advanced liquid crystal designs for near-to-eye display applications. This is a full-time position and requires an advanced degree in optical engineering, physics, or similar, and a background in liquid crystals and polarization.

Responsibilities

• Translate market and system requirements into liquid crystal requirements for prescription and accommodation solutions for VR and AR
• Develop critical liquid crystal technologies and establish polarization optics model for next generation Near-Eye Displays (NEDs)
• Dive system performance and to validate achievable visual experience
• Research and develop emerging liquid crystal technology and photonics concepts and assess application NEDs
• Lead vendor selection for research, development and scale for LC POR components Support the productization, optimization, evaluation, characterization and delivering of the chosen LC POR components, and NEDs system integration
• Lead and collaborate in the integration of optical sub-systems and development vehicles
• Develop test methods, infrastructure, and complete design verification
• Collaborate cross-functionally with a world class team of researchers and engineers to explore concepts to advance display system architectures and develop display pipeline to demonstrate compelling experiences
• Partner with operations partners to enable a customized build-to-order supply chain in support of our VR and AR programs
• Up to 15% domestic and international travel required
  

Minimum Qualification

• Currently has, or is in the process of obtaining, a PhD in the field of Optical Sciences, Physics, Liquid Crystals, Displays or related field
• Interpersonal experience: cross-group and cross-culture collaboration
• Must obtain work authorization in country of employment at the time of hire, and maintain ongoing work authorization during employment
• 3+ years research experience in liquid crystals photonics and/or product development of liquid crystal photonics technology
• 3+ years of experience with liquid crystal design optical tools, such as MATLAB, Python, LCDMaster or equivalent, COMSOL, and methods such as Johns Matrix, FDTD, or RCWA
• Experience in applying existing and emerging liquid crystal technologies for improving optical performance of NEDs
• Experience with optics technologies including imaging, illumination, physical optics, radiometry and photometry
• Experience with LC manufacturing methods
• Experience with LC amplitude or phase modulation design
  

Preferred Qualification

• Experience with liquid crystal materials & optics, polarization optics or physical optics
• Experience with ray tracing, optical system design and optical metrology
• Experience with LCD pixel design and cell design
• Proven track record of achieving significant results as demonstrated by grants, or fellowships, as well as first-authored publications in Applied Optics, Optics Letters, Optics Express, and relevant SIGGRAPH, SID, OSA, SPIE or similar
  

Facebook is proud to be an Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action employer. We do not discriminate based upon race, religion, color, national origin, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, gender expression, transgender status, sexual stereotypes, age, status as a protected veteran, status as an individual with a disability, or other applicable legally protected characteristics. We also consider qualified applicants with criminal histories, consistent with applicable federal, state and local law. Facebook is committed to providing reasonable accommodations for candidates with disabilities in our recruiting process. If you need any assistance or accommodations due to a disability, please let us know at accommodations-ext@fb.com.