A high-efficiency programmable modulator for extreme ultraviolet light with nanometre feature size based on an electronic phase transitionVaskivskyi, Igor (Avtor) Mraz, Anže (Avtor) Venturini, Rok (Avtor) Jecl, Gregor (Avtor) Vaskivskyi, Yevhenii (Avtor) light modulatorsextreme ultraviolet lightultrafast photonicscondensed-matter physicsThe absence of efficient light modulators for extreme ultraviolet (EUV) and X-ray photons considerably limits their real-life application, particularly when even slight complexity of the beam patterns is required. Here we report on a novel approach to reversible imprinting of a holographic mask in an electronic Wigner crystal material with a sub-90-nm feature size. The structure is imprinted on a sub-picosecond timescale using EUV laser pulses, and acts as a high-efficiency diffraction grating that deflects EUV or soft X-ray light. The imprinted nanostructure is stable after the removal of the exciting beams at low temperatures, but can be easily erased by a single heating beam. Modelling shows that the efficiency of the device can exceed 1%, approaching state-of-the-art etched gratings, but with the benefit of being programmable and tunable over a large range of wavelengths. The observed effect is based on the rapid change of lattice constant upon transition between metastable electronically ordered phases in a layered transition metal dichalcogenide. The proposed approach is potentially useful for creating tunable light modulators in the EUV and soft X-ray spectral ranges.20242024-11-12 13:44:27Članek v reviji164796UDK: 53ISSN pri članku: 1749-4893DOI: 10.1038/s41566-024-01389-zCOBISS_ID: 186100483sl