The Low Energy Anti-Proton Ring (LEAR) was an experiment at CERN

CERN

The European Organization for Nuclear Research , known as CERN , is an international organization whose purpose is to operate the world's largest particle physics laboratory, which is situated in the northwest suburbs of Geneva on the Franco–Swiss border...

 designed to decelerate and store antimatter

Antimatter

In particle physics, antimatter is the extension of the concept of the antiparticle to matter, where antimatter is composed of antiparticles in the same way that normal matter is composed of particles...

, to study the properties of antimatter and to create atoms of antihydrogen

Antihydrogen

Antihydrogen is the antimatter counterpart of hydrogen. Whereas the common hydrogen atom is composed of an electron and proton, the antihydrogen atom is made up of a positron and antiproton...

. The experiment was constructed in 1982 and operated until 1996, when it was converted into the Low Energy Ion Ring

Low Energy Ion Ring

The Low Energy Ion Ring is a particle accelerator at CERN used to accelerate lead ions from the LINAC 3 to the Proton Synchrotron to provide lead ions for collisions within the Large Hadron Collider .-History:...

, which will be used in the lead

Lead

Lead is a main-group element in the carbon group with the symbol Pb and atomic number 82. Lead is a soft, malleable poor metal. It is also counted as one of the heavy metals. Metallic lead has a bluish-white color after being freshly cut, but it soon tarnishes to a dull grayish color when exposed...

 ion

Ion

An ion is an atom or molecule in which the total number of electrons is not equal to the total number of protons, giving it a net positive or negative electrical charge. The name was given by physicist Michael Faraday for the substances that allow a current to pass between electrodes in a...

 injection process for the Large Hadron Collider

Large Hadron Collider

The Large Hadron Collider is the world's largest and highest-energy particle accelerator. It is expected to address some of the most fundamental questions of physics, advancing the understanding of the deepest laws of nature....

. Antimatter for the ring was created by the CERN Proton Synchrotron

Proton Synchrotron

The Proton Synchrotron is the first major particle accelerator at CERN, built as a 28 GeV proton accelerator in the late 1950s and put into operation in 1959. It takes the protons from the Proton Synchrotron Booster at a kinetic energy of 1.4 GeV and lead ions from the Low Energy Ion Ring at 72...

. The creation of at least 9 atoms of antihydrogen were confirmed by the PS210 experiment

PS210 experiment

The PS210 experiment was the first experiment that led to the observation of antihydrogen atoms produced at the Low Energy Antiproton Ring at CERN in 1995. The antihydrogen atoms were produced in flight and moved at nearly the speed of light...

 in 1995.

Low energy antiproton research continues at CERN using the Antiproton Decelerator

Antiproton Decelerator

The Antiproton Decelerator is a storage ring at the CERN laboratory in Geneva. It was built as a successor to the Low Energy Antiproton Ring and started operation in the year 2000...

. It was built as a successor for LEAR and started operation in 2000.