We report the present status of plasma targets for ion‐plasma interaction experiments which are to run at HIMAC and TIT. The plasma target formed by thez‐pinch of hydrogen gas discharge is constructed for the interaction experiments. Stable pinch process with a relatively long duration of ≊0.5 &mgr;s was observed for initial gas pressure of 0.26 to 0.68 Torr. Prior to the plasma target of a gas flow type, the z‐pinch behavior of a gas‐filled discharge column was studied to compare with a computer simulation using an MHD code. This simulation has led us to understand time dependence of light emission. The behavior of the z‐pinch can be explained in terms of dynamics of shock wave and current sheet. ©1996 American Institute of Physics.