This paper presents a novel approach to creating a high-efficiency, programmable modulator for extreme ultraviolet (EUV) and soft X-ray light. The modulator utilizes a sub-90-nm feature size holographic mask imprinted in an electronic Wigner crystal material (1T-TaS2). This imprinting is achieved using EUV laser pulses on a sub-picosecond timescale, creating a diffraction grating that deflects EUV/soft X-ray light. The nanostructure is stable at low temperatures but can be erased by a single heating beam. Modeling suggests efficiency exceeding 1%, comparable to state-of-the-art etched gratings, with the added benefit of programmability and tunability across a wide wavelength range. The effect is based on the rapid change in lattice constant during electronic phase transitions in the layered transition metal dichalcogenide.

Igor Vaskivskyi, Anže Mraz, Rok Venturini, Gregor Jecl, Yevhenii Vaskivskyi, Riccardo Mincigrucci, Laura Foglia, Dario De Angelis, Jacopo-Stefano Pelli-Cresi, Ettore Paltani, Danny Fainozzi, Filippo Bencivenga, Claudio Masciovecchio, Dragan Mihailovic