3D Additive Manufacturing

3D printing and additive technologies are enabling the fabrication of innovative objects with complex architectures, which are not accessible to standard planar lithographies, with potential impact on fields such as automotive, aerospace, optoelectronics, biotechnology and medicine. Notwithstanding the rapid grow of the field, some challenges are still present, basically related to the low throughput of printing processes, the low spatial resolution of additive technologies and the possibility to process various materials simultaneously. This session will highlight some of the current advances of additive manufacturing technologies with specific emphasis on their application in optics and photonics. Approaches based on in-situ and real-time process monitoring and virtual reality tools are also presented, which are expected to enhance the reliability of the printing process of functional and nanocomposite materials.