The paper describes a novel application of an electron beam ion trap as a plasma target facility for intense laser-plasma interaction studies. The low density plasma target ({approx}10{sup 13}/cm{sup 3}) is confined in a mobile cryogenic electromagnetic charged particle trap, with the magnetic confinement field of 1-3T maintained by a superconducting magnet. Ion plasmas for a large variety of ion species and charge states are produced and maintained within the magnetic field and the space charge of an energetic electron beam in the ''Electron Beam Ion Trap'' (EBIT) geometry. Intense laser beams (optical lasers, x-ray lasers and upcoming ''X-Ray Free Electron Lasers'' (XFEL)) provide strong time varying electromagnetic fields (>10{sup 12} V/cm in femto- to nano-sec pulses) for interactions with electromagnetically confined neutral/non-neutral plasmas. The experiments are aimed to gain understanding of the effects of intense photon fields on ionization/excitation processes, the ionization balance, as well as photon polarization effects. First experimental scenarios and tests with an intense laser that utilize the ion plasma target are outlined
