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A large area, position and energy sensitive detector has been developed to study the characteristic X-radiation of exotic atoms in the few keV range. The detector, built up from an array of six high-resistivity CCDs, is used as the focal plane of a reflection-type crystal spectrometer. A large detection area is necessary because of the need to detect simultaneously two or more lines close in energy as well as broad structures like fluorescence X-rays from electronic atoms. The fine pixel structure provides accurate determination of the X-ray line position while the excellent background rejection capabilities of the CCD, using both energy and topographical discrimination, are essential in the high background environment of a particle accelerator. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The 5 g − 4 f transitions in pionic nitrogen and muonic oxygen were measured simultaneously by using a gaseous nitrogen–oxygen mixture at 1.4 bar. Due to the precise knowledge of the muon mass the muonic line provides the energy calibration for the pionic transition. A value of (139.57077 ± 0.00018) MeV/c 2 (± 1.3 ppm) is derived for the mass of the negatively charged pion, which is 4.2 ppm larger than the present world average. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During their de-excitation, exotic atoms formed in low pressure gases reach a state of high or even complete ionization. X-rays emitted from higher n-states of electron-free atoms have well defined energies with the error originating only from the error in the mass values of the constituent particles. They served as a basis for a new determination of the pion mass as well as for a high precision measurement of the pionic hydrogen ground state shift. The response function of the Bragg spectrometer has been determined with X-rays from completely ionized pionic carbon and with a dedicated electron cyclotron resonance ion trap (ECRIT). A further extension of the ECRIT method implemented in the experiment allows a direct calibration of exotic atom transitions as well as a precise determination of the energy of fluorescence lines. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]