Organic laser having improved linearity

1. An organic vertical cavity laser device, comprising:

a) a substrate;

b) a bottom dielectric stack reflective to light over a predetermined range of wavelengths and being disposed over the substrate;

c) an organic active region for producing laser light;

d) a top dielectric stack spaced from the bottom dielectric stack and reflective to light over a predetermined range of wavelengths; and

e) a thermally conductive transparent layer disposed between the bottom dielectric stack and the organic active region or between the top dielectric stack and the organic active region or both;

f) and the organic active region includes one or more periodic gain region(s) and spacer layers disposed on either side of the periodic gain region(s) and arranged so that the periodic gain region(s) is aligned with the antinodes of the device's standing wave electromagnetic field.

2. The organic vertical cavity laser device of claim 1 wherein pump-beam light is transmitted and introduced into the organic active region through at least one of the dielectric stacks.

3. The organic vertical cavity laser device of claim 1 wherein one or more periodic gain region(s) is a combination of a host material and a dopant and the spacer layers are substantially transparent to pump-beam light and laser light and are thermally conductive or non-thermally conductive.

4. The organic vertical cavity laser device of claim 1 wherein the thermally conductive transparent layer includes diamond-like carbon or silicon carbide.

5. The organic vertical cavity laser device of claim 3 wherein each of the spacer layers includes diamond-like carbon or silicon carbide.

6. An organic vertical cavity laser array device, comprising:

a) a substrate;

b) a bottom dielectric stack reflective to light over a predetermined range of wavelengths and being disposed over the substrate;

c) an organic active region for producing laser light;

d) a top dielectric stack spaced from the bottom dielectric stack and reflective to light over a predetermined range of wavelengths;

e) a thermally conductive transparent layer disposed between the bottom dielectric stack and the organic active region or between the top dielectric stack and the organic active region or both; and

f) an etched region formed in a surface of the bottom dielectric stack to define an array of spaced laser pixels which have higher reflectance than the interpixel regions so that the array emits coherent phase-locked laser light.

g) and the organic active region includes one or more periodic gain region(s) and spacer layers disposed on either side of the periodic gain region(s) and arranged so that the periodic gain region(s) is aligned with the of the antinodes of the device's standing wave electromagnetic field.

7. The organic vertical cavity laser array device of claim 6 wherein pump-beam light is transmitted and introduced into the organic active region through at least one of the dielectric stacks.

8. The organic vertical cavity laser array device of claim 6 wherein one or more periodic gain region(s) is a combination of a host material and a dopant and the spacer layers are substantially transparent to pump-beam light and laser light and are thermally conductive or non-thermally conductive.

9. The organic vertical cavity laser array device of claim 6 wherein the spacing between pixels is in the range of 0.25 to 4 microns.

10. The organic vertical cavity laser array device of claim 6 wherein the pixels are arranged in a linear array.

11. The organic vertical cavity laser array device of claim 6 wherein the pixels are arranged in a two-dimensional square array.

12. The organic vertical cavity laser array device of claim 6 wherein the thermally conductive transparent layer includes diamond-like carbon or silicon carbide.

13. The organic vertical cavity laser array device of claim 8 wherein each of the spacer layers includes diamond-like carbon or silicon carbide.