The ambition of this review is
to provide an up-to-date synopsis of the state of 3D printing
technology for optical and photonic components, to gauge technological
advances, and to discuss future opportunities. While a range of
approaches have been developed and some have been commercialized, no
single approach can yet simultaneously achieve small detail and low
roughness at large print volumes and speed using multiple materials.
Instead, each approach occupies a niche where the
components/structures that can be created fit within a relatively
narrow range of geometries with limited material choices. For
instance, the common Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) approach is
capable of large print volumes at relatively high speeds but lacks the
resolution needed for small detail (
>
100
µ
m
) with low roughness (
>
9
µ
m
). At the other end of the spectrum,
two-photon polymerization can achieve roughness (
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