Abstract: A direct solar pumped laser operates on emission from the phosphorescent T.sub.1 .fwdarw.S.sub.o transition of a suitable dye molecule used in liquid or solid solution. The first excited singlet electronic state S.sub.1 is excited from the ground state S.sub.o by light from solar concentrators absorbed in the absorption bands of the strong spin-allowed transitions S.sub.p .rarw.S.sub.o, p.gtoreq.1, where the primary absorption band is usually p=1. Excitation of dye molecules to the first triplet state T.sub.1 occurs via intersystem crossing from S.sub.1 to the triplet state manifold.