An experiment is described where beams with suitable parameters and elements were produced by ablating thin films of Zr (1000, 3000, 6000 and 10000 Å) and Li + Al (500 A Li, 800 Å Al) with the use of Q-switched ruby laser pulses (total energy density: 12, 5 J/cm2). The energy and density distribution of the evaporated atoms was measured by laser-induced fluorescence. Concerning the particle energy, values of several 10 eV were found with a variation dependent on the film thickness. The beam itself had a half width of about 14° with peak neutral densities between 1010 and 1012 cm−3. In the presence of a hydrogen atmosphere of 10−4 mbar the Zr beam was attenuated by a factor of 2, whereas the density in the Li beam decreased by nearly one order of magnitude.