Lightwave was originally conceived as an electronic music trio consisting of Serge Leroy, Laurent Bozeck and Christian Wittman.

In 1993, it was the turn of Tycho Brahé with the help of the violinist Jacques Deregnaucourt, Hector Zazou and Paul Haslinger member of Tangerine Dream.

The group, now a quartet, was inspired to create a guide to a journey into the bowels of Vesuvius by Athanasius Kircher, a philosopher of the seventeenth century.

[2] The returning duo of Wittman and Harbonnier continued the work begun with the sound research of Mundus Subterraneus in subsequent albums: In Der Unterwelt (1996), consists of a single 20-minute suite, published by Plan Sonores; Cantus Umbrarum (1999), recorded within the Choranche caves in the Vercors region (France) on the occasion of Rugissants Festival of Grenoble, and Caryotype (2001) consisting of a suite in eleven movements.

[3] The duo favored mixing live electronic with acoustic instruments, performing impromptu compositions that were built on listening and sharing, similar in to a jazz trio or string quartet.