Bio:

Dr. Ying Lia Li (Lia), CEO and Founder of Zero Point Motion, is a trailblazer in chip-scale optical inertial sensors. Recognized with the 2021 Institute of Physics Clifford Paterson Medal, the 2022 Innovate UK Women in Innovation Award and named as Sensors Converge ‘Woman of the Year’ 2023, Lia's groundbreaking work redefines sensing using light. A physics graduate from Imperial College, she earned her Ph.D. at University College London, developing optical sensors with applications in macroscopic quantum state preparation. With a track record of coupling optical resonances to mechanical motion, she achieved displacement sensing over 1000x smaller than a single atom. Post-Ph.D., she secured prestigious fellowships from EPSRC and the Royal Academy of Engineering before founding Zero Point Motion in 2020, raising over £6.3M to date.

Abstract:

Zero Point Motion has been developing optomechanical accelerometers and gyroscopes using standard MPW offerings in micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) and photonic integrated circuit (PIC) platforms. By exploiting the coupling between mechanical motion and the evanescent field of optical resonators, exceptional inertial sensing noise floors are demonstrated. In this talk we present progress in our proof-of-concept devices and how we are tackling challenges on creating a compact and low cost system architecture. We are exploring a number of ways to integrate lasers and detectors, capitalizing on emerging capabilities such as heterogeneous solutions.