A 20‐cm‐long 3.6‐cm‐diam &Vthgr;‐pinch plasma is placed within a coupled optical cavity of a 40‐J CO2TEA laser as an active optical element. Ruby‐laser scattering is used to measure the plasma temperature for the non‐laser‐heated, the single‐pass, and the multiple‐pass laser‐heated plasmas. At times in the pinch cycle when holography shows a favorable density profile, multiple‐pass heating equivalent to over five passes of the single‐pass energy is observed.