The development of high-power, broadband sources of coherent mid-infrared radiation is driven by a number of existing and continuously emerging applications in medical diagnostics, spectroscopy, microscopy and fundamental science. The construction of compact, broadband mid-infrared radiation sources, which unify the properties of high brightness and spatial as well as temporal coherence has been one of the major challenges in this area. Due to the lack of such radiation sources, several emerging applications can only be realized at IR-beamlines in large-scale synchrotron facilities. Here, the limited availability restricts the number of potential users.

AFS offers laser sources to drive your own conversion processes as well as table-top, broadband, coherent mid-infrared light sources that can provide brightness at an unprecedented level superseding that of synchrotrons in the wavelength range between 3.7 and 18 μm by several orders of magnitude [1]. These capabilities are enabled by our unique high-power, few-cycle Thulium-doped fiber-laser system employing intra-pulse difference frequency generation at 2 µm wavelength [2]. This technique intrinsically ensures the formation of carrier-envelope-phase-stable pulses establishing an ideal prerequisite for state-of-the-art spectroscopy and microscopy. Employing 2-µm laser sources yields also higher conversion efficiency and broader spectral range for conversion compared to 1-µm driving lasers [3].