Abstract: A solid state dye laser incorporating a polyacrylamide gelatin solid host is doped with a laser dye such as rhodamine 6G and pyrromethene 556. The host is aligned within a lasing cavity and is excited to fluorescence by a pumping laser such as a second harmonic Nd:YAG. A container made from pyrex or inorganic oxide glass can be used to encapsulate and protect the gel solid. The solid state dye host exhibits "self healing" after photobleaching due to dye migration within the encapsulated form.

Abstract: The aerodynamic window is formed of a contiguous pair of gas jet streams driven at subsonic velocity across the entire cross-sectional area of an annular laser beam. One of the jet streams has a shear interface with the interior gas of the laser and has its index of refraction matched to it. The other interfaces with the outside air into which the beam passes and it too has a refraction index matched to the air. Matching of the indices minimizes optical distortion of the beam at the shear interfaces. Distortion produced at the boundary layer of the contiguous jet streams is minimized by equalizing their velocities. To maintain a desired laser cavity pressure, the jet streams are permitted to bend responsively to the pressure differential. The degree of the bending is controlled to reduce window gas consumption.