The ion beams are produced by a cylindrical thermal contact‐ionization plasma source with an electrostatic lens system. The source plasma is produced at the inside surface of a 5‐mm‐diam 20‐mm‐long Re foil cylinder protected with a W cylinder. The surface is heated up to 3000 K by electron bombardment. The material to be ionized is fed to the surface through a guide pipe from a reservoir. Generation of all alkaline metal ions have been tested and a beam current of hundreds of &mgr;A is obtained. The efficiency for Li+production is 30%, while that for Cs+is nearly 100%. Alkaline earth ion beams, except Mg, are generated. A current of Ba+up to 200 &mgr;A is obtained, while a Tl+beam of over 200 &mgr;A is achieved. Halogen negative ion beams, except F−, of the order of 10 &mgr;A are also obtained when alkali halides are used. Attempts to extract Li−from the source are also being made.