An ignition facilitated electrodeless sealed high intensity illumination device is configured to receive a laser beam from a continuous wave (CW) laser light source. A sealed chamber is configured to contain an ionizable medium. The chamber has an ingress window disposed within a wall of a chamber interior surface configured to admit the laser beam into the chamber, a plasma sustaining region, and a high intensity light egress window configured to emit high intensity light from the chamber. The CW laser beam is producible by a CW laser below 250 Watts configured to produce a wavelength below 1100 nm. The device is configured to focus the laser beam to a full width at half maximum (FWHM) beam waist of 1-15 microns2 and a Rayleigh length of 6 microns or less, and the plasma is configured to be ignited by the CW laser beam.