What if a 3D printer could create soft, living tissue in seconds instead of slowly building it layer by layer? Researchers at EPFL are moving closer to that goal with a major upgrade to a futuristic manufacturing technique that uses holograms and laser light to instantly form complex objects inside liquid resin.
The technology, known as tomographic volumetric additive manufacturing (TVAM), works more like a CT scan in reverse than a traditional 3D printer. Instead of stacking material one layer at a time, the system projects patterns of light into a rotating vial filled with photosensitive resin. Wherever enough light energy accumulates, the liquid rapidly solidifies into a complete 3D structure.
In earlier work published in 2025, EPFL scientists improved the process by using holograms to control the phase of light waves rather than their brightness. That change allowed the system to preserve far more laser energy, making the printing process dramatically more efficient.
Now, researchers from EPFL’s Laboratory of Applied Photonic Devices (LAPD) have pushed the technology even further. Their latest platform is 70 times more efficient than previous holographic TVAM systems thanks to a newly developed device that directly controls the phase of a laser beam inside a volumetric 3D printer for the first time.
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