Photonics (May 2022)

Generation of 8–20 μm Mid-Infrared Ultrashort Femtosecond Laser Pulses via Difference Frequency Generation

  • Xinyang Su,
  • Ruixue Zhu,
  • Bolin Wang,
  • Yu Bai,
  • Tao Ding,
  • Tianran Sun,
  • Xing Lü,
  • Jiying Peng,
  • Yi Zheng

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/photonics9060372
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 9, no. 6
p. 372

Abstract

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Mid-infrared (MIR) ultrashort laser pulses have a wide range of applications in the fields of environmental monitoring, laser medicine, food quality control, strong-field physics, attosecond science, and some other aspects. Recent years have seen great developments in MIR laser technologies. Traditional solid-state and fiber lasers focus on the research of the short-wavelength MIR region. However, due to the limitation of the gain medium, they still cannot cover the long-wavelength region from 8 to 20 µm. This paper summarizes the developments of 8–20 μm MIR ultrafast laser generation via difference frequency generation (DFG) and reviews related theoretical models. Finally, the feasibility of MIR power scaling by nonlinear-amplification DFG and methods for measuring the power of DFG-based MIR are analyzed from the author’s perspective.

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