Abstract
The performance characteristics of a transversly excited gas transport CO2 laseroperating up to a pressure of 760 torr are presented. The measured spatial distri-butions of unsaturated gain agree well with those calculated from an electron density distribution. The pressure dependence of unsaturated gain and saturation parameter was determined experimentally. The output power (TEM∞) of 520 W was obtained at 400 torr with the active length of 67cm.