Three years operational experience with LEP

In 1989 a beam of positrons was injected into LEP from the SPS and completed the first full turn. One month later all 4 experiments, ALEPH, DELPHI, OPAL and L3 detected their first Z0 particles. A total of integrated luminosity of over 1.3 inverse picobarns had been recorded per experiment, resulting in a total of over 70,000 Z0's detected. In 1990 LEP was operated in the same way as in 1989 producing 12.3 inverse picobarns and three quarters of a million Z0's. In 1991 operation continued in a similar way with initial luminosities reaching 1031cm-2s-1 and over 6,000 Z0's per day in each experiment. The experiences over the first years of LEP operation are summarized, giving typical and peak performance figures. (author) 17 refs.; 2 figs.; 1 tab