Progress on intra-pulse difference frequency generation in femtosecond laser

Mid-infrared (MIR) lasers have various advantages and can be widely used in either fundamental research fields or practical applications such as strong-field physics, molecular sensing and minimally-invasive tissue ablation. Generally, there are two categories of methods to generate MIR laser emission: one is direct lasing and the other is nonlinear frequency down-conversion. However, for the ultra-broadband few-cycle MIR generation, nonlinear down-conversion is the only available method. Intra-pulse Difference Frequency Generation (IP-DFG) is a simple method of nonlinear frequency conversion. In this article, the IP-DFG technology for the ultra-broadband MIR few-cycle pulses generation is reviewed. Different MIR nonlinear crystals, various driving laser sources, the spectral coverage of the MIR-IPDF output, and the conversion efficiency are compared and discussed. Last but not least, the prospects and challenges of MIR IP-DFG are presented.