A new plasma source is described. A collimated beam of photons of 6 &mgr;sec duration generates a plasma by single quantum photoionization of a rarefied gas. A uniform plasma column with sharply defined initial boundaries is produced remote from the container walls and in the absence of currents or fields. At 90 cm from the photon source, plasma densities of 1010cm3are produced in argon at a pressure of 5 &mgr;.