A 10‐keV atomic beam source of hydrogen atoms in then=44 or other selected state was based upon charge exchange production of then=10 state followed by Doppler‐tuned cw CO2laser excitation to the desired highly excited state. In present operation the output atom flux of the source is 2.5×105sec−1, a value that can be increased by as much as 105. The technique can be extended to considerably higher and lower atom energies, to a wide range of atom quantum numbers, and to atoms other than hydrogen.