Laser emission was observed in photonic semiconductor dots with a discretized optical mode spectrum. The photonic dots with lateral sizes between 1 and 5 &mgr;m provide a three-dimensional optical confinement by using in the vertical direction AlAs/GaAs Bragg mirrors and in the lateral directions the refractive index discontinuity at the etched surfaces. In the optically pumped structures, the laser emission takes place on the fundamental mode of the microcavities. External threshold excitation densities of200 W/cm2,which correspond to a very low internal optical excitation power of 0.15 &mgr;W per microcavity post, were measured for microcavity structures with a lateral size of 2.7 &mgr;m. ©1997 American Institute of Physics.