2024/01/16 by Daniel Webber, Webber, Daniel, Yujie Zhang +11 · 2 citations
Engineering · #Advanced Optical Imaging Technologies #Advanced optical system design #Applied Physics (physics.app-ph) #FOS: Physical sciences #Optical Coherence Tomography Applications #Optics (physics.optics)
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2401.08799
openalex publication_date 2024/01/16 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
We demonstrate the fabrication of millimeter-sized optical components using tomographic volumetric additive manufacturing (VAM). By purposely blurring the writing beams through the use of a large etendue source, the layer-like artifacts called striations are eliminated enabling the rapid and direct fabrication of smooth surfaces. We call this method blurred tomography, and demonstrate its capability by printing a plano-convex optical lens with comparable imaging performance to that of a commercially-available glass lens. Furthermore, due to the intrinsic freeform design nature of VAM, we demonstrate the double-sided fabrication of a biconvex microlens array, and for the first time demonstrate overprinting of a lens onto an optical fiber using this printing modality. This approach to VAM will pave the way for low-cost, rapid-prototyping of freeform optical components.