Abstract: A chiral structure having an advantageous extended chiral defect that provides an enhanced energy distribution characteristic therein. This is accomplished by configuring a central portion of the chiral structure with a pitch different from the rest of the structure. This may be envisioned as a distributed chiral twist with a predefined angle over a portion of a chiral structure. With the distributed defect, the photonic stop band remains wide, allowing for the substantial increase in the lifetime of the mode in which lasing occurs, while the extent of the high intensity region of the mode is large. The extended chiral defect structure may also be implemented as a thin-film chiral structure, for example using cholesteric liquid crystal or sculptured thin films.