Applications of the Beijing IR-free electron laser facility

We report on the upgrade of the Beijing TR free electron laser (BFEL) facility, including improvements of the system stability, performance upgrade and optical wavelength range extension. Applications in the field of material sciences, such as the development of mid- and far-infrared detectors made from YBa2Cu3O7 high T-c thin films, and laser isotope separation, as well as applications in the life sciences, such as protein folding studies, and plant denaturation observations, are described. (C) 1998 Published by Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.