The feasibility of laser‐induced photoemission as a driving mechanism for short plasma pulse production is currently being investigated with a pulsed excimer laser at 248 nm. Low work function materials such as LaB6and barium are used as cathode materials and the resulting plasma characteristics are being examined. Results from early measurements of the barium photocathode show a strong dependence of the photoemitted current on the source pressure and cathode voltage. Additionally, the temporal behavior of the emitted electron pulse is found to consist of two components: a short 50 ns burst corresponding to laser‐induced photoemission, and a larger, longer 100 ns pulse increasing from the tail end of the photoemitted electron pulse. ©1996 American Institute of Physics.