  High-power, diffraction-limited organic solid-state laser operation has been
achieved in a vertical external cavity surface-emitting organic laser (VECSOL),
pumped by a low-cost compact blue laser diode. The diode-pumped VECSOLs were
demonstrated with various dyes in a polymer matrix, leading to laser emissions
from 540 nm to 660 nm. Optimization of both the pump pulse duration and output
coupling leads to a pump slope efficiency of 11% for a DCM based VECSOLs. We
report output pulse energy up to 280 nJ with 100 ns long pump pulses, leading
to a peak power of 3.5 W in a circularly symmetric, diffraction-limited beam.
