The high current, high charge-state ion beam which can be extracted from a laser produced plasma is well suited, after initial acceleration, for injection into synchrotrons. At CERN, the production of a heavy ion beam using aCO2laser ion source is studied. The latest results of experiments with a tantalum ion beam with charge states up to23+and accelerated by a radio frequency quadrupole from 6.9 to 100 keV/u, are presented along with simulations of the low energy beam transport. The ion yield at the desired charge state, the pulse to pulse stability of the ion beam, and the system reliability are all of major interest. Work is under way to replace the low repetition rate free-running laser oscillator by a master oscillator and power amplifier system. The master oscillator is operational and the first results of measurements of its beam quality and stability are presented. ©1998 American Institute of Physics.