History

From laboratory laser physics to a delivered instrument

Water sites
50+
First paper
2013
Founded
2022
1970s–2000s

Roughly five decades of laser remote sensing science

The instruments build on a long institutional lineage of multi-wavelength laser-induced fluorescence research across academic optics and ocean-physics laboratories. Three results from that work are what make calibration-free, multi-parameter retrieval possible: water Raman scattering as a built-in reference, a characteristic fluorescence fingerprint per substance, and multi-wavelength excitation.

  • Multi-wavelength excitation
  • Raman-referenced retrieval
  • Bio-optical algorithms
2003–2022

Two decades of expedition fieldwork

Twenty years of LIF LiDAR practice ran across more than fifty water sites, at any salinity and trophic state: the Black Sea and Caspian, the Arctic Kara Sea, Patos Lagoon in Brazil, Issyk-Kul, the Volga, the Gorky Reservoir, and Lake Balaton. The first peer-reviewed UFL water-quality paper appeared in 2013; the cal/val record against Sentinel-2 and Sentinel-3 followed.

  • 50+ water sites
  • First UFL paper, 2013
  • Sentinel-2 / -3 cal/val
2022–present

Founding of LIFeLiDAR SAS

Incorporated in Sophia Antipolis, approved by DRIEETS in 2022, recognised by French Deeptech, and backed by France 2030. A LIFL-11 system was delivered under contract in 2023. In October 2025 the LIFL-11, mFL-12, and mHR-2 completed their first marine field tests together, at Venice in the ESA PHY2FLEX campaign.

  • DRIEETS-approved, 2022
  • Backed by France 2030
  • ESA PHY2FLEX, Venice 2025