A professional who controls vacuum coating equipment to coat optical elements with chemical or metal film to alter reflective properties of elements. Responsibilities include:

• Reads work order to ascertain thickness of optical element and type coating material specified.
• Installs heating filament in coating machine according to type coating applied, using screwdriver.
• Fills crucible with coating material and positions crucible under heating filament.
• Secures optical element in jig and centers jig in vacuum chamber of machine to ensure uniform coating of optical surface.
• Places dome-shaped lid (vacuum bell) over jig or lowers lid equipped with window depending upon machine used.
• Starts machine that creates vacuum and releases chemicals or metal to form coating on optical element by process of sublimation or atomization.
• Observes changing colors of element through vacuum bell or through window in lid to determine when element is coated to specifications, or reads exposure meter to determine coating thickness.
• Applies and removes strip of cellophane to test adherence of coating to optical element.
• May immerse elements in chemical solution to clean elements.
• May operate ultrasonic vibrator to clean element.
• May inspect optical elements prior to coating to detect defects, such as blemishes, abrasions, and rough edges, using microscope.
• May cement optical elements together to form multiple laminated elements.
• May spray emulsion on lens preparatory to coating.