Spatial control of extreme ultraviolet light with opto-optical phase modulation.

ABSTRACT

Extreme ultraviolet (XUV) light is notoriously difficult to control due to its strong interaction cross section with media. We demonstrate a method to overcome this problem by using opto-optical modulation guided by a geometrical model to shape XUV light. A bell-shaped infrared light pulse is shown to imprint a trace of its intensity profile onto the XUV light in the far-field, such that a change in the intensity profile of the infrared pulse leads to a change in the shape of the far-field XUV light. The geometrical model assists the user in predicting the effect of a specific intensity profile of the infrared pulse, thus enabling a deterministic process.