As the first and last proton-lead run of 2013 draws to a close, the extensive maintenance programme of the LHC's first long shutdown is about to start

Every two weeks, ion-source physicist Detlef Küchler refills the lead source for the LHC with pure lead 208

Proton-ion operation has become routine for the LHC operation crew with all seven LHC experiments simultaneously taking data for first time

The ALICE experiment will be watching the collisions closely to tease out the effects of lead ions from the effects of the plasma

The LHC starts the New Year facing a new challenge: proton-lead collisions in the last month before the shutdown in mid-February

Accelerator team declares "stable beams" as lead ions collide with protons in first LHC physics beams of 2013

Preparations have been progressing steadily at CMS to receive collisions between protons and lead ions

For the last run before the two-year shutdown, the LHC is going beyond its original design specification and will collide protons with lead ions

Record number of 2,748 proton bunches injected into the LHC giving a record beam intensity of around 2.7 x 10^14 protons in both beams

Remarkable first three-year LHC run crowned by a new performance milestone