Review of laser driven sources for multi-charged ions

Since the first idea of an ion source using laser ablation plasma arose, almost forty years has already passed. It was found that the laser plasma could provide ultra intense beam with high charge state easily. In spite of this advantage, the laser ion source (LIS) has not been accepted by a major stream of the accelerator field. Once the laser plasma produced, it is hard to control the pulse structure. However, accumulated research results by many groups capable us to provide high quality multi-charged ions from LIS now. The LIS suits not only for a large accelerator complexes but also for small facilities. The history of the LIS and a project for LHC at CERN are briefly introduced. Then recent activities about direct plasma injection scheme (DPIS) are explained. Also other works related to LIS are summarized.