Physics / mechanism
Xolography is volumetric additive manufacturing using two intersecting light beams of distinct wavelengths in a dual-photoinitiator photopolymer — polymerization happens only at the intersection, enabling layer-free 3D printing of objects (no staircase artefacts). Commercialized by Xolo (Berlin, founded ex-Karpathy lab, Stephan Kuehr previous at 3YOURMIND, $30M raised). Optical applications include microoptics, microlens arrays, freeform macroscopic optics, contact/intraocular lenses. Surface quality is optical-grade as-printed (no polishing). The technique is polymer-bound, sharing the same material-class question as 2PP for reliability-qualified photonics: cheap and fast vs. uncertain Telcordia path. Adjacent work in zirconia and SiOC ceramic xolography — but ceramic processing is years from production.
Competitive landscape
Adjacent material classes / techniques.
Companies using
Connected ideas
Sources
Frontier (open questions)
- To be added.
Primer (web-enriched)
Sourced 2026-05-02. See sources/web/ for full citations.
Xolography is volumetric additive manufacturing using two intersecting light beams of distinct wavelengths in a dual-photoinitiator photopolymer — polymerization happens only at the intersection, enabling layer-free 3D printing of objects (no staircase artefacts). Commercialized by Xolo (Berlin, founded ex-Karpathy lab, Stephan Kuehr previous at 3YOURMIND, $30M raised). Optical applications include microoptics, microlens arrays, freeform macroscopic optics, contact/intraocular lenses. Surface quality is optical-grade as-printed (no polishing). The technique is polymer-bound, sharing the same material-class question as 2PP for reliability-qualified photonics: cheap and fast vs. uncertain Telcordia path. Adjacent work in zirconia and SiOC ceramic xolography — but ceramic processing is years from production.