A solid-state spectrometer for cooled beams with high acceptance and resolution in space and energy

The GEM detector, a hybrid system consisting of the Germanium Wall and the magnetic spectrometer BIG KARL, was developed to investigate meson production and meson-nucleus interaction with cooled external proton beams from the COSY accelerator at Julich. The Germanium Wall is a stack of up to four annular position-sensitive semiconductor detectors made from high-purity germanium. Its special structure allows experiments with high counting rates. Design features and results from first test runs with the uncooled COSY beam are presented.