In June 1984 a conference on visible and IR tunable solid-state lasers was held in La Jolla, California. The proceedings were published as the first volume of this series, Tunable Solid State Lasers *. The emphasis of this meeting focused on discerning unified themes in the generic areas of: - Laser host/dopant identification and growth procedures, - Theoretical analysis to elucidate fundamental tunable laser principles, - Experimental investigations on laser spectroscopy to which theoretical analyses and models can be anchored, and - Auxiliary technology developments in efficient laser...