The invention relates to light sources with laser pumping and to methods for generating radiation with a high luminance in the ultraviolet (UV) and visible spectral ranges. The technical result of the invention includes extending the functional possibilities of a light source with laser pumping by virtue of increasing the luminance, increasing the coefficient of absorption of the laser radiation by a plasma, and significantly reducing the numerical aperture of a divergent laser beam which is to be occluded and which is passing through the plasma. The device comprises a chamber containing a gas, a laser producing a laser beam, an optical element, a region of radiating plasma produced in the chamber by the focused laser beam, an occluder, which is mounted on the axis of the divergent laser beam on the second side of the chamber, and an optical system for collecting plasma radiation.