Thermal dye sublimation printer
From The Glossary of Digital Photography
Also called dye sublimation printer. A digital printer that heats solid, transparent dyes to transfer them to a medium such as paper. Thermal dye sublimation printers usually use cyan, magenta, and yellow solid dyes in the form of a ribbon. When heated, the dye goes directly from the solid (ribbon) to a gas form, a process called sublimation. Because the dyes are transparent, they can be laid on top of each other to form different colors. Different shades of color are created by using varying amounts of heat. Dye sublimation printers are cleaner than inkjet printers because there are no liquid inks involved. See also dye sublimation
