The ALICE experiment at the LHC is equipped with an electromagnetic calorimeter (EMCal) designed to enhance its capabilities for jet, photon and electron measurement. In addition, the EMCal enables triggering on jets and photons with a centrality dep
endent energy threshold. After its commissioning in 2010, the EMCal Level 1 (L1) trigger was officially approved for physics data taking in 2011. After describing the L1 hardware and trigger algorithms, the commissioning and the first year of running experience, both in proton and heavy ion beams, are reviewed. Additionally, the upgrades to the original L1 trigger design are detailed.
The ALICE collaboration at the LHC has measured the transverse momentum spectra of neutral pions via their two photon decay in pp and Pb$-$Pb collisions at $sqrt{s_{NN}}=2.76$ TeV over a broad transverse momentum range with different subsystems: with
the electromagnetic calorimeters PHOS and EMCAL and with photon
