Laser oscillation has been observed in the expansion phase of transversely initiated laser‐produced plasmas of argon, krypton, and xenon at pressures up to 1 atm. All of the experimental evidence indicates that these lasers are of a plasma‐recombination type in which an initially ionized plasma rapidly expands and cools, leading to a high recombination rate and subsequently to an inversion in the next lower ionization stage.