Pulsed operation of a TEA CO2 laser under the conditions of the growth of an optical inhomogeneity of the active medium at high specific pump energies

A CO2 laser system with self-modulation of the intracavity losses was devel oped. This system was capable of generating efficiently pulses free of a ra diation 'tail' typical for CO2 lasers. A simple method was used to detect t he optical inhomogeneity of the medium of a gas-discharge TEA module. The r esults of the measurements are presented.