A distributed-feedback laser was demonstrated by using a fluorescent dye-doped polymer. The periodic structure of a one-dimensional photonic crystal was fabricated through spin coating and alternate stacking of high and low refractive-index polymers. The rhodamine-6G-doped multilayer showed a photonic band gap in the transmissivity spectrum at the fluorescent wavelength range. Laser emission from the surface of the multilayer was attained at the band edge for a pump of the second harmonic of a neodymium-doped yttrium aluminum garnet laser. Wavelength tuning was possible by spin coating a multilayer onto a concave substrate.

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A piezoelectrically deformable output-mirror was used for the mechanical Q-switching of a laser-diode-pumped Nd3+:YVO4 microchip laser. A unimorph structure consisting of a piezoelectric polymer and a polymeric multilayered mirror on a flexible polymer substrate was vibrated to periodically change the laser-cavity loss under the application of an AC voltage of 250 V. It yielded Q-switched pulses with a duration of 16 ns at a repetition rate of 1.338 kHz for a pump power of 284 mW and a cavity length of 16 mm. The average power and peak power were 1.1 mW and 52 W, respectively.

A polymeric multilayered mirror doped with a saturable dye worked as a passive Q-switch of a laser-diode-pumped Nd(3+):YVO4 microchip laser. The multilayered mirror consisted of alternately spin-coated layers of polyvinylcarbazole (PVK) and cellulose acetate on a glass substrate. A dye of bis-(dimethylaminodithiobenzil)-nickel was doped in one of the layers of PVK, providing the repetitively Q-switched pulses. The pulse width and repetition rate were 4 ns and 68 kHz, respectively, for a laser-cavity length of 5 mm, and the average and the peak power were 40 mW and 156 W, respectively, for the highest pump power of 435 mW. The dependence of the Q-switched characteristics on the pump power and on the concentration of the doped dye is described.