High power particle beam accelerators are being developed for use in inertial confinement fusion applications. These pulsed power accelerators require sources of low atomic number ions (e.g., protons, deuterons, carbon, or lithium). The sources must be of high purity for efficient accelerator operation and proper target coupling, must have a rapid ‘‘turn-on,’’ and must be compatible with ion diode configurations under development. A particular type of source presently being investigated is the flashover ion source which generates ions by means of the vacuum flashover of an insulating anode material when the high voltage pulse arrives at the diode. We have developed an applied-magnetic-field, extraction ion diode for the 0.03 TW Nereus accelerator specifically to investigate these sources. Extracted ion species are measured by means of a Thomson-parabola ion analyzer, dB/dt current monitors, and Faraday cups. Experiments have been performed to investigate the surface flashover mechanism and the effects of various dielectric source materials, anode preparation methods (including rf glow discharge cleaning), and vacuum conditions on ion species and diode operation.