Solid-state dye (SSDL) lasers were introduced in 1967 by Soffer and McFarland. In these solid state lasers, the gain medium is an organic matrix doped with a laser dye such as poly (methyl methacrylate) (PMMA), instead of a liquid dye solution. An example is PMMA doped with rhodamine 6G. These lasers are also referred to as solid state organic lasers and solid state dye doped polymer lasers.
In the 1990s, new forms of improved PMMA, such as modified PMMA, were introduced with high optical quality characteristics. Winning media research for SSDL has been quite active in the 21st century, and several new dye-doped organic solid state matrices have been discovered. Among these new means of gain are organic-inorganic compounds of polymer-nanoparticles doped with dye. An additional form of solid state laser culture media doped with an organic-inorganic dye is the ORMOSIL.