Abstract Negative halogen ions have recently been proposed as a possible alternative to positive ions for heavy-ion fusion drivers because electron accumulation would not be a problem in the accelerator, and if desired, the beams could be photodetached to neutrals (Nucl. Instr. and Meth. A 464 (2001) 315; Fusion Sci. Technol. 43 (2003) 191; Laser Part. Beams 21 (2003) 545). To test the ability to make suitable quality beams, an experiment was conducted at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory using chlorine in an RF-driven ion source. Without introducing any cesium (which is required to enhance negative ion production in hydrogen ion sources) a negative chlorine current density of 45 mA/cm 2 was obtained under the same conditions that gave 57 mA/cm 2 of positive chlorine, suggesting the presence of nearly as many negative ions as positive ions in the plasma near the extraction plane. The negative-ion spectrum was 99.5% atomic chlorine ions, with only 0.5% molecular chlorine, and essentially no impurities. Although this experiment did not incorporate the type of electron suppression technology that is used in negative hydrogen beam extraction, the ratio of co-extracted electrons to Cl − was as low as 7 to 1, many times lower than the ratio of their mobilities, suggesting that few electrons are present in the near-extractor plasma. This, along with the near-equivalence of the positive- and negative-ion currents, suggests that the plasma in this region was mostly an ion–ion plasma. The negative chlorine current density was relatively insensitive to pressure, and scaled linearly with RF power. If this linear scaling continues to hold at higher RF powers, it should permit current densities of 100 mA/cm 2 , sufficient for present heavy-ion fusion injector concepts. The effective ion temperatures of the positive and negative ions appeared to be similar and relatively low for a plasma source.