Mid-infrared difference-frequency generation of ultrashort pulses tunable between 3.2 and 4.8 microm from a compact fiber source.

We report single-pass difference-frequency generation of mid-infrared femtosecond pulses tunable in the 3.2-4.8 microm range from a two-branch mode-locked erbium-doped fiber source. Average power levels of up to 1.1 mW at a repetition rate of 82 MHz are obtained in the mid infrared. This is achieved via nonlinear mixing of 170 mW, 65 fs pump pulses at a fixed wavelength of 1.58 microm, with 11.5 mW, 40 fs pulses tunable in the near-infrared range between 1.05 and 1.18 microm. These values indicate that the tunable near-infrared input component is downconverted with a quantum efficiency that exceeds 30%.