31 March 2026
Job

The Laser Zentrum Hannover e.V. (LZH) is a leading institute in the field of applied laser research. Approximately 250 employees carry out basic and applied research and develop solutions for industry. The Fiber Optics Group of our Laser Development Department invites applications for a

Research Assistant / Thesis / Project Work / Student Thesis (m/f/d) for High Precision Assembly Automation
Specialization: Electronics, Mechanical/Mechatronics Engineering, Computer Science (or equivalent)
(Job-ID: 73245)

The Fiber Optics Group as a part of Laser Development Department conducts research on the production of fiber optic components for applications in industry and research. Automated assembly technology is a central building block of photonics integrated system manufacturing. High precision robotic manipulators are used to perform this automated assembly in which individual components are picked up and placed at precise position or adjusted and fixed in an optical system.

As part of our research, active alignment and computer vision-based automation is being developed and tested for manufacturing and assembly of these components. Our work includes investigating machine learning approaches such as reinforcement learning and development of neural network based agents to perform assembly actions as well as development of automation processes for real life machine deployment, development of simulation environment for reinforcement learning training, and testing approaches with real components.

As a research assistant, you will support these activities:

  • Development of reinforcement learning workflows involving aspects such as training environment, reward function, training flow, exploration strategies, network architecture, data architecture

  • Development of & setting up simulation environment: GPU accelerated parallel environments

  • Simulation-to-machine deployment

  • Automation workflow: hardware selection & integration, process development, sequence programming on the machine

  • Testing and performance evaluation

Working environment:

At the LZH and in the Fiber Optics Group you will find an attractive working environment. We offer you:

  • An interdisciplinary team of physicists and engineers

  • Independent work in an innovative organization

  • Participation in top-notch research

  • Co-authorship for initial scientific publications is possible and encouraged

Job requirements:

  • Interest in automation, robotics and physical robotics
  • Independent, reliable work as well as organizational skills and a sense of order 
  • Equally enthusiastic about software and hardware
  • Good communication and teamwork skills
  • Good to have: knowledge and experience of programming in C++ and/ or Python and/ or PLC programming

For the duration of your research work, you may receive remuneration as a research assistant (HiWi) on a marginal basis. Severely disabled applicants with equal qualification will be given consideration. 

The LZH emphasizes gender equality.

Please send your application stating the Job-ID 73245 to:

Laser Zentrum Hannover e.V.
Khushaldas Vasant Badhan
Hollerithallee 8
30419 Hannover
Tel.: +49 (0)511-2788-295
E-Mail: bewerbung@lzh.de

Note on data protection in applications and in the application process

The LZH collects and processes the personal data of applicants for the purpose of processing the application process. The processing can also be done electronically. This is especially the case if an applicant submits the corresponding application documents by electronic means, for example by e-mail.

If the LZH concludes a contract of employment with an applicant, the transmitted data will be stored for the purpose of executing the employment relationship in compliance with the statutory provisions. If no contract of employment with the applicant is concluded by the LZH, the application documents will be deleted six months after the announcement of the rejection decision, provided that deletion does not conflict with any other legitimate interests of the LZH. Other legitimate interest in this sense, for example, a burden of proof in a procedure under the General Equal Treatment Act (AGG).

By submitting a postal or electronic application for a position advertised by the LZH or academic work, the applicant agrees to the electronic and non-electronic processing of his / her data.

Further information can be found in our privacy policy at https://www.lzh.de/en/data-protection-notice.