A brief review of investigations carried out in the Institute of Physics is presented along with an analysis of processes determining production of ions as well as formation and transport of intense ion beams in plasma-optical systems. All these systems have a common mechanism of space charge equipotentialization. When a noncompensated beam’s self-potential exceeds significantly an external potential, a charge compensation is mainly provided by secondary electron emission. Two systems are considered, a magnetically isolated diode gap (MDG) operating in the plasma-optical regime, and a high-current electrostatic plasma lens. It is demonstrated that a MDG can be used for production of hydrogen ions with unique parameters (current 6 A, density of current6 A/cm2,energy up to 20 keV, pulse duration up to 100 &mgr;s). An effective method of intense ion beam low pressure transport is proposed. ©1998 American Institute of Physics.