Using laser diodes for Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) systems allows to build very compact and rugged devices compared to solid state lasers. Broad area lasers (BAL) usually provide the high pulse energy required. But if beam quality and spectral resolution matters, our recently launched µMOPA has become an excellent alternative delivering multiple Watts in singlemode quality. And also the DFB laser can be used as master oscillator in LIDAR applications as it has been demonstrated in NASA’s C.A.T.S. mission. All three types of laser diodes can be also driven with short pulses down to ns regime as required for time of flight (TOF) principle.