The invention relates to an optically pumped ultrashort pulse microchip laser for generating a laser emission having femto- or picosecond pulses, comprising a substrate, an amplifying laser medium, a first resonator mirror that is at least partially transparent to optical pump radiation, and in particular a saturable absorber structure. The laser medium is applied to the resonator mirror and the substrate and subsequently reduced from the original material thickness to a thickness of less than 200 μm. In order to achieve satisfactory power absorption despite said low thickness, the optical pump radiation is coupled into the laser medium such that resonance occurs for the laser emission and excess intensity increases occur for the pump radiation.