[en] In this dissertation, the first measurement of the luminosity for data from the COMPASS experiment is presented. The result is obtained by the direct measurement of the beam flux and the correction of all inefficiencies and dead times of the measurement. The normalized data set consists of about 30% of the COMPASS data recorded in 2004 and the effective integrated luminosity is 142.4 pb^-1 ± 10%, which is verified by the determination of the structure function F₂ of the nucleon and its comparison to literature. Based on this result, the cross section for the quasi-real photoproduction of charged hadrons with high transverse momenta in muon-deuteron scattering at a center-of-mass energy of √(s)=17.4 GeV is determined. The measurement of a hadron-production cross section in a thick solid-state target is quite challenging in comparison to collider measurements of such processes. The issue of secondary hadronic interactions in the target material is carefully studied and taken into account. The cross section is presented in bins of the pseudo-rapidity of the hadrons and separated by hadron charge. The results are discussed and compared to recent calculations of next-to-leading order perturbative Quantum Chromodynamics. This comparison serves as a test of the applicability of such calculations to the production of hadrons with high transverse momenta at COMPASS energies. The second part of this dissertation describes new developments for charged-particle tracking in high-rate experiments. The design of a new type of Time Projection Chamber (TPC), which employs GEM foils instead of proportional wires for gas amplification, is discussed. This technology opens up the possibility of using TPCs in experiments with trigger rates beyond about 1 kHz. Several important contributions to the GEM-TPC project are presented. Furthermore, a generic framework for track fitting in high-energy physics, called GENFIT, is introduced. This novel software is being used in the PANDA, Belle-II, and GEM-TPC projects.