First Luminosity Scans in the LHC

Once circulating beams have been established in the LHC the first step towards collisions is to remove the physical separation used to avoid collisions during injection and ramp. A residual separation can remain after the collapsing of the separation bumps. The so-called Van Der Meer method allows for a minimization of this unwanted separation by transversally scanning one beam through the other. The beam sizes at the IP can also be determined by this method and used to give an absolute measurement of the luminosity. We report on how this measurement was implemented and performed in the LHC to optimize and calibrate luminosity.