The results of experimental studies of ion beams escaping from both a laser-produced plasma and a plasma of laser-induced vacuum discharge are presented. The parameters of the discharge with an Al cathode are as follows: current amplitude is about 1.7 kA and current rise rate is about 7.5 × 109 A s−1 as the capacitor voltage is 2.3 kV. The discharge is initiated with a laser pulse of 30 ps length, energy less than 10 mJ and power density I
L = 5 × 1011 W cm−2. It is shown that the discharge is a source of accelerated and highly charged ions of the cathode material. The production of Al ions is observed at the instant when the discharge current rise rate attains a peak value and just at that same instant a pinching occurs in front of the cathode jet expanding into the interelectrode gap. Ion energy distributions are characterized by the presence of a significant non-Maxwellian tail of the accelerated ions. The maximum ion charge state and energy per charge unit are +8 and 13 keV/Z, respectively. The energy is comparable to the value observed under similar experimental conditions for the laser-produced plasma at a pulse energy of 400 mJ and power density I
L = 2 × 1013 W cm−2.