  A search is described to detect charged Higgs bosons via the process e^+e^-
-> H^+H^-, using data collected by the OPAL detector at center-of-mass energies
of 130-172 GeV with a total integrated luminosity of 25 pb^-1. The decay
channels are assumed to be H^+ -> qq'(bar) and H^+ -> \tau^+ \nu_{\tau}. No
evidence for charged Higgs boson production is observed. The lower limit for
its mass is determined to be 52 GeV at 95% confidence level, independent of the
H^+ -> \tau^+ \nu_{\tau} branching ratio.

High Energy Physics - Experiment