Microstructured polymer lasers: diode-pumped lasing and extending operation lifetimes

In this paper, we demonstrate a very compact, all-solid-state polymer laser system comprising of a GaN semiconductor diode laser as the pump source with a novel surface-emitting resonator structure and an innovative energy-transfer gain medium is demonstrated. We also report studies of operating lifetime of polymer photonic crystal lasers based on MEH-PPV, which were simply fabricated using solvent assisted micromoulding. We demonstrate that suitable encapsulation can have little effect on the optical properties of the polymer laser.