Lasing in dye-doped chiral nematic liq. crystals (N*LCs) was studied. To demonstrate the advantages of using a polymer dye, that is highly aligned along the local director of N*LCs, over com. small mol. dyes such as 4-(dicyanomethylene)-2-Me-6-(4-dimethylaminostryl)-4H-pyran (DCM), comparative studies of the fluorescence, lasing conditions and order parameters were made using polymer-dye doped N*LC and DCM-doped N*LC cells. Right- and polarized fluorescence spectra for both dyes were accurately simulated by taking account of their d. of modes and order parameters. The greater alignment afforded by the polymer dye in N*LCs provides ideal conditions for lasing. [on SciFinder(R)]