Pearre Benjamin W, Michas Christos, Tsang Jean-Marc, Gardner Timothy J, Otchy Timothy M
Department of Biology, Boston University, Boston, MA 02215, USA.
Department of Biomedical Engineering, Boston University, Boston, MA 02215, USA.
Addit Manuf. 2019 Dec;30. doi: 10.1016/j.addma.2019.100887. Epub 2019 Oct 9.
3D printing allows rapid fabrication of complex objects from digital designs. One 3D-printing process, direct laser writing, polymerises a light-sensitive material by steering a focused laser beam through the shape of the object to be created. The highest-resolution direct laser writing systems use a femtosecond laser, steered using mechanised stages or galvanometer-controlled mirrors, to effect two-photon polymerisation. Here we report a new high-resolution direct laser writing system that employs a resonant mirror scanner to achieve a significant increase in printing speed over current methods while maintaining resolution on the order of a micron. This printer is based on a software modification to a commercially available resonant-scanning two-photon microscope. We demonstrate the complete process chain from hardware configuration and control software to the printing of objects of approximately 400 × 400 × 350 μm, and validate performance with objective benchmarks. Released under an open-source license, this work makes micron-scale 3D printing available at little or no cost to the large community of two-photon microscope users, and paves the way toward widespread availability of precision-printed devices.
3D打印能够根据数字设计快速制造复杂物体。一种3D打印工艺，即直接激光写入，通过将聚焦激光束引导穿过待创建物体的形状，使光敏材料聚合。最高分辨率的直接激光写入系统使用飞秒激光，通过机械平台或检流计控制的镜子进行引导，以实现双光子聚合。在此，我们报告一种新的高分辨率直接激光写入系统，该系统采用共振镜扫描仪，在保持微米级分辨率的同时，相比当前方法显著提高了打印速度。此打印机基于对商用共振扫描双光子显微镜的软件修改。我们展示了从硬件配置和控制软件到打印尺寸约为400×400×350μm物体的完整工艺链，并通过客观基准验证了性能。这项工作在开源许可下发布，使微米级3D打印对于广大双光子显微镜用户几乎免费可得，并为精密打印设备的广泛应用铺平了道路。
