Abstract

Tunable, nearly transform limited femtosecond pulses in the mid-infrared (MIR) spectral range are of greaT interest for the study of chemical and biological systems. The most widely spread method to produce such pulses up to 10 µm is difference-frequency mixing, but even with high-power amplifiers used as pump sources only nanojoule energies could be obtained. [1] Higher energy levels are expected with a single step of parametric conversion as in the recently developed parametric generators covering the near-infrared spectral region. [2]

© 1996 IEEE