Diode lasers have been used for ion temperature measurements in ArII plasmas by finding new laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) schemes suited to the present range of available wavelengths. The new LIF schemes require excitation at 664, 669, and 689 nm, all near industry-standard wavelengths. Conventional LIF measurements performed by dye lasers in ArII use 611.66 nm in vacuum, shorter than any commercially available red diode laser line, and depend on the population of the3d′ 2G9/2metastable state. The metastable state density of the conventional LIF scheme was found to be larger than the populations of the other metastable states by an order of magnitude or less. A master oscillator power amplifier diode laser was used both in a Littman–Metcalf cavity and as an optical amplifier for a low power diode laser which was in a Littman–Metcalf cavity. Both systems provided intensity of up to 500 mW, continuously tunable over 10 nm centered at 666 nm, and were used to obtain high resolution ion velocity distribution functions. ©1998 American Institute of Physics.