Inclusive charged-D production in 205-GeV/c pi - Be interactions.

The inclusive cross section for charged-D/sup */ production by 205-GeV/c ..pi../sup -/ mesons incident on a beryllium target was measured with a two-arm spectrometer triggered by prompt muons. Using the mass-difference technique often employed in D/sup */ studies, a signal of 31 +- 11 charged D/sup */'s was isolated; it includes contributions from both the D/sup *//sup +/ and D/sup *//sup -/ charged modes in correlation with triggering muons of the proper charge. This corresponds to an inclusive charged-D/sup */ production cross section of 220 +- 77/sub -57//sup +77/ ..mu..b per Be nucleus or 24 +- 9/sub -6//sup +9/ ..mu..b per nucleon when the cross section is scaled linearly with atomic mass number. The first error is statistical and the second is systematic.