Infrared flash?

[Thomas Shaddack]

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?