Theoretical investigation of traveling wave excitation using the property of photon addition has been carried out in a 50‐cm‐long TE N2laser tube with ten separated discharge sections. The laser power outputs under traveling wave excitation have been calculated numerically with varying gas pressures from 30 to 85 Torr and applied voltages from 14 to 21 kV, and compared with those of simultaneous excitation. Theoretical results show that the laser peak power increases with increasing applied voltage, and has a maximum value at gas pressureP&bartil;60 Torr. The laser pulse width is narrowed and the laser power is doubled under the traveling wave excitation, compared with simultaneous excitation. Experimental confirmation also has been conducted. Experimentally observed gas presssure dependence of output power agrees qualitatively well with theoretical results. The maximum discrepancy in the absolute values between theory and experiment is approximately 50%.