A form of powder bed fusion where an area is exposed to laser energy on the surface of the powder bed, rather than tracing a beam. Four steps are used to sinter the build layer.
First, a powerful, pulsed laser beam is spread into a square area.
Second, a projector sends blue light in the pattern of the area to be sintered in parallel with the column of laser light.
Third, a polarization device is used to polarize any photons that are not a mixture of blue and laser light.
Fourth, the polarized light is split off and deflected away, allowing the unpolarized light, in the shape of the area to be sintered, to heat and sinter the top layer of the powder bed.
The build square is moved across the surface until the layer is completed, the build plate is lowered, and a new layer of powder is spread across the top. This process is repeated for each layer.
This approach is similar to Diode-based Additive Manufacturing, but delfects instead of dims the laser light in non-printing regions. It can also projects over a smaller area.
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