A crosslinked cholesteric network doped with a fluorescent dye exhibits lasing efficiencies that are more than one order of magnitude higher than those of a low molar mass cholesteric liquid crystal (CLC) with similar optical parameters. The emission from the samples has been found to be stable, whereby the lasing threshold is much lower than that of the CLC compound. Films of the crosslinked sample can easily be peeled off their glass substrates and can be microstructured or coated to chance the polarization of the emitted laser light.