  Hypernuclear research will be one of the main topics addressed by the PANDA
experiment at the planned Facility for Anti-proton and Ion Research FAIR at
Darmstadt, Germany. A copious production of Xi-hyperons at a dedicated internal
target in the stored anti-proton beam is expected, which will enable the
high-precision gamma-spectroscopy of double strange systems for the first time.
In addition to the general purpose PANDA setup, the hypernuclear experiments
require an active secondary target of silicon layers and absorber material as
well as high purity germanium (HPGe) crystals as gamma-detectors. The design of
the setup and the development of these detectors is progressing: a first HPGe
crystal with a new electromechanical cooling system was prepared and the
properties of a silicon strip detector as a prototype to be used in the
secondary target were studied. Simultaneously to the hardware projects,
detailed Monte Carlo simulations were performed to predict the yield of
particle stable hypernuclei. With the help of the Monte Carlo a procedure for
Lambda-Lambda-hypernuclei identification by the detection and correlation of
the weak decay pions was developed.
