3D Printed Micro Christmas Tree

During our annual Christmas lunch last week, PhD researchers Elisabetta Avizzano and Adrian Seijas Gamardo became intrigued by the idea to try and print the smallest 3D Christmas tree ever. The Christmas trees were printed using the two-photon polymerization technique that is available within our institute. This technique allows us to print with a resolution down to 100nm using a photoreactive material and a laser. Elisabetta printed an array of Christmas trees in various sizes from 7-17um. Each tree took around 8 seconds to produce. The trees are too small to see with the naked eye: you will only see a small white dot! On the images on the right, you see the result using scanning electron microscopy.