Campo et al. address an evergreen problem in laser spectroscopy: how to generate light with the appropriate spectrum for a given experiment. This is a particularly thorny issue in the mid-IR and UV, where there are far fewer materials and architectures that can provide performance approaching that of NIR or visible laser systems. Mid-IR photon energies match the ro-vibrational energies of many molecules and molecular functional groups (molecular fingerprint region), so mid-IR spectroscopy is among the best methods for identifying materials and probing their physical structure. This in itself is a boon for basic physical chemistry, but the applications of mid-IR sources are manifold, including in astronomy, atmospheric science, biomedical imaging and diagnosis, military surveillance, and non-proliferation.