Narrowband carrier-envelope phase stable mid-infrared pulses at wavelengths beyond 10 mu m by chirped-pulse difference frequency generation

We report on the generation of narrowband carrier-envelope phase stable mid-infrared (MIR) pulses between 10 and 15 mu m. High pulse energies and narrow bandwidths are required for the selective nonlinear excitation of collective modes of matter that is not possible with current sources. We demonstrate bandwidths of <2% at 12.5 mu m wavelength through difference frequency generation between two near-infrared (NIR) pulses, which are linearly chirped. We obtain a reduction in bandwidth by one order of magnitude, compared to schemes that make use of transform-limited NIR pulses. The wavelength of the narrowband MIR pulse can be tuned by changing the optical delay between the two chirped NIR pulses. (C) 2017 Optical Society of America