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Optics Technicians

Work Environment

In some polishing and hand-figuring rooms, and in the first assembly rooms, it is sometimes necessary to provide special dust, humidity, and temperature controls. Technicians are required to wear clean, lint-free garments, and to use caps and overshoe covers. These rooms are widely used whenever the work requires the most meticulous cleanliness, since a single piece of lint might cause the loss of an entire component or assembly.

On the other hand, technicians working with large astronomical telescopes, with missile-tracking cameras on a military test range, or with instrument cameras for recording outdoor activities will have to work in a variety of conditions.

Very often, optics technicians, particularly those associated with the assembly, alignment, and testing of complete instruments, will find themselves working in the dark or at night. In very few cases is the work apt to be grimy or dangerous.

Part of the discipline of optics is concentrated in the scientific and technical world, another in the world of the skilled artisan working with the hands and eyes. For prospective optics technicians who have an interest in and an aptitude for both of these kinds of activities, optics technology provides many opportunities to make personal contributions to the advancement and development of optical science and the optical industry.

Because optics technology is involved in creating the instruments and equipment necessary in ever-expanding fields such as medical research, space exploration, communications systems, and microcircuitry design and manufacture, optics technicians can feel some satisfaction in knowing that they are working in some of today's most exciting fields of scientific and technological research. The work that optics technicians perform directly affects the lives of most Americans.

As with all technicians in the engineering and science field, optics technicians are often called upon to perform both very challenging and very routine and repetitive work. Optics technology offers technicians a spectrum of jobs, so prospective technicians can choose those that fit their temperaments.

Optics technicians almost always work as part of a group effort. Often they serve as intermediaries between scientists and engineers who run projects and skilled craftsworkers who carry out much of the work.

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