A Nd:YAG laser, 9ns pulse width, 30Hz repetition rate, a maximum pulse density of 1010W/cm2 and an iodine laser, 400ps pulse, operating in single pulse width with a maximum power density of 1016W/cm2, are employed to produce pulsed plasmas in vacuum. A comparison of the results obtained for the ablation of tantalum targets is presented, including the ablation yields, the ion and neutral emissions and the angular distributions. A plasma plume is produced along the normal to the target surface; it expands adiabatically at supersonic velocity carrying neutral and charged particles and emits visible light, UV and X-rays as well. The plasma has been characterised in terms of an equivalent ion and electron temperature (∼107K), density (∼1017cm−3), and fractional ionisation, which is proportional to the laser intensity. A special attention is devoted to the ion production and to ion kinetic energy, which can reach values of the order of 1MeV. Such an ion acceleration is due to high electric fields generated inside the non-equilibrium plasma, which can reach values of the order of GV/cm at high laser intensities.Finally, some applications of the laser-produced plasma for the ion injection into ion sources and for the multi-energetic ion implantation plasma-laser are presented.