Intern, Laser Application Engineer

Coherent Corp. • Santa Clara, CA

2d • Onsite

About The Position

We are seeking a highly motivated, hands on, fast learning contributor to join
our Laser Applications team for Summer of 2026. In this role you will gain
hand-on experience in the use of lasers for materials processing applications,
learn where and how lasers enable a wide range of products and functions you use
every day and interact with industry professionals and real-world end user
customers who implement lasers in a wide range of manufacturing applications.

Requirements

• Education Level Required: Bachelor's / Master’s / PhD Candidate
• Majors: Optics and Photonics, Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Materials Science, Physics, Engineering/Applied Physics, Chemistry or similar relevant fields
• Excellent written and verbal communication.
• Team-oriented but able to work independently when needed.
• Adaptable and eager to learn in a fast-paced environment.
• Attention to detail and time management.
• Imaginative & open – can come up with and consider new or unique solutions and approaches to problems; open to considering and trying other’s new or unique ideas or solutions.
• Open to currently enrolled students or those who have graduated within one year of the internship start date.

Nice To Haves

• Relevant coursework or extracurricular experience in lasers and optics is a plus.
• Working knowledge of tooling, fixturing, mechanical alignment, mechanical design software and mechanical machining techniques is a plus
• Experience operating lasers, especially with galvanometer scanners for materials processing is a plus
• Experience in light material interactions, glass science or glass chemistry is a plus
• Experience designing and aligning optics and optical beam paths is a plus

Responsibilities

• Investigation of laser-material interactions to understand and develop process parameters to achieve various types of laser-based manufacturing
• Setting up laser materials processing stations or changing and re-aligning optics in existing stations
• Programming motion stages and laser scanners as well as laser output parameters to set up applications trials
• Design of Experiment to explore complex multi-variable processing parameter spaces
• Analysis of results by microscopy, mechanical and electrical testing
• Documenting experiments completed and organizing learnings to present to a broader team
• Interactions with customers and coworkers to discuss application results

What This Job Offers

• Career Level: Intern
• Education Level: No Education Listed