We report on the development of novel high-speed techniques to measure the surface topography and instantaneous velocity of ablatively launched thin metal layers with sub-nanosecond temporal resolution. Applications for laser detonator technology require the understanding of laser fiber optical energy deposition and ablative launch of a thin metal layer into an explosive. Characterization of the ablation process requires a time-resolved diagnosis of the ejected material state (topography, velocity, density, pressure, etc.). A pulsed Nd:YAG fibercoupled laser is used to ablate a 250 nm layer of titanium deposited on a 500 μm thick fused silica substrate at fluences below 10 J/cm2. Time-resolved imaging of the free expansion of the metal surface is accomplished with Fourier plane imaging using a Shack-Hartmann lenticular array coupled to a fast framing camera. The imager performs topographical surface measurements by detecting changes in the optical wavefront of a reflected picosecond probe laser beam off the expanding surface. Consequently, single-event sub-nanosecond time-resolved "movies" of surface motion dynamics are captured. Crosscheck of the Shack-Hartmann imager is done using advanced velocimetry. A 1550 nm heterodyne laser-based Photonic Doppler Velocimeter is used to measure surface velocity. Using a 1550 nm single mode fiber laser, 10 GHz InGaAs detectors and telecom hardware, we directly record the resulting beat signal produced by the accelerated surface onto a fast digitizer. Free surface velocities as high as 6.5 μm/ns are recorded. Comparisons between the dynamic topography, surface velocimetry and laser hydrocode simulations are presented.