450 mW femtosecond mid-IR source at 8.5 μm wavelength

What is it about?

The conference proceeding is about the (so-far) highest power femtosecond light source for wavelengths longer than 5 micron. The wavelength of 5 micron is an important barrier since practically all nonlinear crystals containing oxides, which are used for mid-infrared generation, start to absorb. Hence, it is rather difficult to achieve high power levels beyond 5 micron. However the spectral region is highly important for molecular spectroscopy since a variety of vibrational transitions (so-called "molecular fingerprints") lie in this part of the IR spectrum. The presented high-power femtosecond mid-IR source is an excellent tool for time-resolved spectroscopy, frequency comb spectroscopy and potentially also for extreme nonlinear optics in solids.

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Why is it important?

Apart from the record power-levels, it has been proven that it is possible to achieve efficient frequency down-conversion from 1 micron and simultaneously large mid-IR bandwidths. This is particularly important because 1 micron sources are highly developed (delivering up to kW of average powers and up to J of pulse energies) and are also commercially available.

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