Infrared flash?

For bright flashes of visible light, xenon flash tubes are the choice. But when I want a really bright flash on about 800-900 nm, what approach is the best? One application is a security camera taking a snapshot without alerting the adversary with a flash. (Could be a good system against black-bag jobs.) Another application, with higher flash frequency, could be a stroboscope throwing the AGC circuits in cameras off-track, Macrovision-style. What would be the best approach? The energies here are more in the range of rotation/vibration changes than electrons jumping up and down between the energy states. How to convert a blast of electrical energy into a shower of near-IR photons?