Abstract <p>The paper presents diagnostics of high-energy ions (more than 1 MeV per particle) emitted in the axial direction from a laser-induced spark discharge in the pinching mode at a current of up to 80 kA and an energy input of up to 120 J. A characteristic feature of the discharge is the rapid increase in current to its maximum value within a time of ≈100 ns. To initiate the discharge, a YAG Nd⁺³ laser with an energy of 150 mJ and a duration of 10 ns was used, the radiation of which was focused on a high-voltage electrode made of cobalt. Using the time-of-flight collector technique, up to 10¹⁰ cobalt ions were recorded per pulse in a solid angle of 0.04 rad. Calculations were performed and a model of a mass spectrometer optimized for an experiment to register fast highly charged cobalt ions was developed.</p>