Digital incoherent synthesis of holographic light fields boosted volumetric printing speed and resolution

Abstract The recent development of "digital incoherent synthesis of holographic light fields" (DISH) by Lu et al. presents a key advance in volumetric additive manufacturing, addressing the limitations of fabrication speed and resolution. Here, we show commentary research highlights for this work, acknowledging its success in enabling high-throughput, micrometer-resolution printing across a wide material viscosity range. While DISH advances the frontier of computed axial lithography methods with a high-speed rotating periscope configuration and iterative wave-optics propagation algorithm, we note that volumetric printing still confronts several challenges, including the degradation of geometric precision caused by complex optical effects, the limitations of material capability and the difficulty in achieving high-throughput nanoscale printing. To address these challenges, we proposed three potential research directions including optimizing computational exposure algorithms to mitigate light interference effects, leveraging holographic acoustic fields to broaden material applicability, and utilizing two-photon polymerization mechanisms to extend resolution to the nanoscale, which may offer new pathways to overcome current limitations in the near future.