<p>Light-based 3D printing with photocurable resins enables the rapid fabrication of complex structures with high resolution and fidelity. Tomographic Volumetric Additive Manufacturing (TVAM) employs a digital micromirror device (DMD) to project amplitude light patterns into rotating resin volumes, producing 3D geometries through photopolymerization. Typically, the light projection efficiency in such binary amplitude modulator-based systems is below a few percent. Recent advancements introduced phase encoding in TVAM using binary amplitude modulators and the Lee Hologram method, increasing axial control and boosting light efficiency to about 10%. In this work, we present the first 3D printing platform utilizing a phase light modulator (PLM), based on an array of micro-electro-mechanical piston mirrors. Compared to amplitude encoding, phase encoding with the PLM yields a 70-fold increase in laser power efficiency. By coupling this efficient light engine with a speckle reduction method in holographic volumetric additive manufacturing (HoloVAM), we experimentally demonstrate printing 3D objects across different scales from hundreds of micrometers to centimeters and with various materials from acrylate-based resins to soft hydrogels, including cell-laden hydrogels with a concentration of 1 million cells per mL. Micro-CT revealed a <InlineEquation ID="IEq1"> <EquationSource Format="TEX">$\sim 30.3\,\mu {m}$</EquationSource> <EquationSource Format="MATHML"><math> <mrow> <mo>~</mo> <mn>30.3</mn> <mspace width="0.25em" /> <mi>μ</mi> <mi mathvariant="italic">m</mi> </mrow> </math></EquationSource> </InlineEquation> as the smallest positive feature printed. Moreover, we introduce the use of gelatin Thiol/Norbornene as a material for printing with the Holographic VAM technique, which allows us to print large-scale objects (up to <InlineEquation ID="IEq2"> <EquationSource Format="TEX">$(3\,\times 3\times 4\,{{cm}}^{3})$</EquationSource> <EquationSource Format="MATHML"><math> <mrow> <mo>(</mo> <mn>3</mn> <mspace width="0.25em" /> <mo>×</mo> <mn>3</mn> <mo>×</mo> <mn>4</mn> <mspace width="0.25em" /> <msup> <mrow> <mi mathvariant="italic">cm</mi> </mrow> <mrow> <mn>3</mn> </mrow> </msup> <mo>)</mo> </mrow> </math></EquationSource> </InlineEquation> within 2 minutes using only a 150 mW laser diode. The PLM opens up new avenues in volumetric AM for holographic techniques using low-cost single-mode laser diodes.</p>

High-efficiency multi-scale holographic volumetric 3D printing with a phase light modulator

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2026年5月19日

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Maria Isabel Álvarez-Castaño,
Riccardo Rizzo,
Viola Sgarminato,
Ye Pu,
Christophe Moser

摘要

Light-based 3D printing with photocurable resins enables the rapid fabrication of complex structures with high resolution and fidelity. Tomographic Volumetric Additive Manufacturing (TVAM) employs a digital micromirror device (DMD) to project amplitude light patterns into rotating resin volumes, producing 3D geometries through photopolymerization. Typically, the light projection efficiency in such binary amplitude modulator-based systems is below a few percent. Recent advancements introduced phase encoding in TVAM using binary amplitude modulators and the Lee Hologram method, increasing axial control and boosting light efficiency to about 10%. In this work, we present the first 3D printing platform utilizing a phase light modulator (PLM), based on an array of micro-electro-mechanical piston mirrors. Compared to amplitude encoding, phase encoding with the PLM yields a 70-fold increase in laser power efficiency. By coupling this efficient light engine with a speckle reduction method in holographic volumetric additive manufacturing (HoloVAM), we experimentally demonstrate printing 3D objects across different scales from hundreds of micrometers to centimeters and with various materials from acrylate-based resins to soft hydrogels, including cell-laden hydrogels with a concentration of 1 million cells per mL. Micro-CT revealed a $\sim 30.3\,\mu {m}$ $~ 30.3 μ m$ as the smallest positive feature printed. Moreover, we introduce the use of gelatin Thiol/Norbornene as a material for printing with the Holographic VAM technique, which allows us to print large-scale objects (up to $(3\,\times 3\times 4\,{{cm}}^{3})$ $(3 \times 3 \times 4 {cm}^{3})$ within 2 minutes using only a 150 mW laser diode. The PLM opens up new avenues in volumetric AM for holographic techniques using low-cost single-mode laser diodes.