Mid-infrared lasers for medical applications: introduction to the feature issue

This feature issue contains a series of papers that report the most recent advances in the field of mid-infrared light sources used for medical applications, including tissue imaging, reconstruction, excision, and ablation. Many biomolecular compounds have strong resonances in the mid-infrared region and medicine is ideally suited to exploit this. The precision, sterility, and versatility of light in mid-infrared is opening more opportunities and this feature issue captures some of the most exciting.