Sub-second volumetric 3D printing by synthesis of holographic light fields

Some press coverage (though I highly recommend just reading the paper linked as the OP, it’s quite approachable to skim without prior knowledge, and you get to see how they turn the Star Trek replicator problem into “just” a loss optimization problem with projectors and spinning mirrors!):

https://aminsightasia.com/education/tsinghua-dish-3d-printin...

And as other have noted, it’s worth bearing in mind that most images here are less than a centimeter in scale; the scale bar is a millimeter. Super impressive stuff.

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skybrian 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Figure 5g: not that impressive a Benchy. But printed much faster, presumably.

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tdeck 2 hours ago | parent | next [-]

For lazy folks like me https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-026-10114-5/figures/5

	▲	binsquare 2 hours ago \| parent [-]
		The squid is pretty impressive, multiple curves. Promising tech

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aendruk an hour ago | parent | prev [-]

> not that impressive

Until you see the scale bar

	▲	fc417fc802 21 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		They're printing 12 μm features (fig 4h). For high speed mass production of more or less arbitrary geometry with no need to retool it's seriously impressive.

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jimbokun 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

ELI5?

Is this a Star Trek replicator or what?

	▲	c22 2 hours ago \| parent \| next [-]
		I believe this happens inside a liquid substrate that cures (hardens) when exposed to light. Instead of building up a shape by exposing a series of flat layers (stacked on top of eachother) one at a time, this exposes the entire 3d shape at once, using holograms.
	▲	Nevermark an hour ago \| parent \| prev \| next [-]
		That replicator involved arbitrary chemistry, so except for fans of polymer flavored “chicken” nuggets, no. :) But if they can scale up dimensions it is a big opportunity. Or scale down dimensions. Or scale up resolution. Or scale up the throughput for manufacturing small complex parts. Not just one part at a time but many parts in proximity at a time, a bit like chip production. All four seem likely now that the principle has been proven.
	▲	ra 2 hours ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		that was my first reaction