Scientists at the Laboratory of Applied Photonics Devices from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL) are developing a new high-performance 3D-printing technique. Their patent-pending volumetric printing technology features rotational exposure of photopolymer resins to radiation resulting in light-shaping. Another peculiarity is that the part is printed in a single step, not layer-by-layer.

The technology itself seems to be of US origin. At the beginning of the previous year, a team of scientists from Berkeley and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) demonstrated Computed Axial Lithography (CAL), a 3D-printing method based on LLNL’s previous researches on resin 3D-printing technique that features holographic patterning of light fields. The models were initially formed by laser beam crossing, which is very complex and expensive. Therefore, it’s been decided to alter the technology in favor of rotational exposure of photopolymer resins.