A delivery device that is usable in a laser peening operation emits a columnar flow of a fluid that contains therein a beam of electromagnetic energy. The beam is retained within the interior of the flow of fluid since the total internal reflectivity of the flow is sufficient to do so. The flow of fluid that serves as a conduit for the beam also itself impinges on a workpiece and thus contains and washes away the plasma that forms from a laser peening operation, and this resists the plasma from reaching and possibly damaging the delivery device. The carrying of the beam in the columnar flow of fluid avoids the need to maintain a fixed distance between the delivery device and the workpiece, which simplifies the movement by a robotic manipulator of the delivery device along a non-planar surface of a workpiece during a laser peening operation.