Photoproduction cross sections of charged pi mesons from hydrogen and deuterium have been measured as a function of meson angle at gamma-ray energies of 200, 235, and 265 Mev. The angular range extends from 30° to 180° in the laboratory system. Absolute cross sections have been determined. A least-squares fit of the measured cross sections has been made to the expression A+Bcosθ+Csin2θ, which assumes only S and P wave scattering. The coefficients so determined are qualitatively consistent with electric and magnetic dipole absorption together with the assumption of a resonant state of angular momentum 32 and of energy close to 300 Mev. Comparison with neutral meson production indicates some direct charged meson production in the P state.

The differential cross section for the photoproduction of a π− meson from the neutron bound in the deuteron was measured for pion laboratory angles of 76°, 96°, and 118° at incident gamma-ray energies in the region of 275 MeV. The π− meson and the high-energy proton were detected. The pion momentum and angle were measured by sets of spark chambers situated in front of and behind a magnetic field. The proton angle and range were also measured with spark chambers. To calculate "free" neutron cross sections from our data, we used a modified version of the extrapolation method suggested by Chew and Low. By observing the π+ only, the differential cross section for π+ photoproduction from hydrogen also was measured. As determined by this experiment, the differential cross section for photoproduction of a π− meson from a "free" neutron and the differential cross section for photoproduction of a π+ meson from hydrogen are as follows: Eγlab≃275 MeV These results disagree with the dispersion theory predictions of Chew, Goldberger, Low, and Nambu. They also disagree with McKinley's dispersion theory calculations which include a bipion or ρ-meson term in the production amplitudes.

The ratio of π− to π+ off deuterium was measured as a function of incident photon energy from 600 to 1700 MeV in the forward direction. The ratio shows a broad dip around a center-of-mass energy of 1700 MeV, resulting presumably from the collective effect of several isospin-½ resonances in this energy region. Such a change in the ratio is reflected in the rapid variation of the isoscalar photoproduction amplitude since we found the isovector photoproduction amplitude to be a relatively smooth function decreasing slowly with increasing incident photon energy.

The π+ photoproduction cross section in hydrogen has been measured at 180° for photon energies from 0.22 to 3.1 GeV by detecting the pion in the backward direction. The statistical accuracy of the measurements varies typically from 3 to 10% depending on the energy. The data are compared with other recent experimental results and predictions of phenomenological theories.

We have measured the cross sections at 90° c.m. for π± and π0 photoproduction with polarized photons. The photon energies ranged from 0.8 to 2.2 GeV. We compare the resonant "bumps" in the cross section with theoretical models. The measured asymmetry agrees with a quark-model calculation though the predicted cross sections are low.

The target asymmetry T = ( σ ↑ − σ ↓)/( σ ↑ + σ ↓) for the reaction γ p → π + n has been measured at the Bonn 2.5 GeV electron synchrotron for a pion c.m. angle of 40° and γ energies between 0.5 and 2.2 GeV. Butanol was used as the target material. About 35% of the protons could be polarized using the dynamic-polarization method in a continuous-flow cryostat operating at 1°K and 25 kG. The π + mesons were detected in a magnetic-spectrometer system. Considerable structure in the asymmetry was observed.

At the Bonn 2.5.GeV electron synchrotron the target asymmetry for the photoproduction of positive pions has been measured. Data were taken at photon energies between 0.7 and 2.2 GeV and a pion CM-angle of 65°.

At the Bonn 2.5 GeV electron synchrotron the angular distribution of the target asymmetry T = (σ↑ − σ↓) (σ↑ + σ↓) for the reaction γp↑ → π + n was measured at a mean photon energy of 700 MeV and pion CM-angles from 50° to 155°. The combination of a 3 He-cryostat, polarizing the free protons in the target up to 65%, with a large acceptance magnet for pion detection led to statistical errors of the target asymmetry comparable with those of cross section measurements.

Measurements of the target asymmetry T = ( σ ↑ − σ ↓)/( σ ↑ + σ ↓) for the reactions γ p → π + n and γ n → π − p at a fixed photon energy of 850 MeV and pion c.m. angles between 70° and 150° are reported. The data are compared to the previously measured angular distribution at 700 MeV.

The differential cross section of the reactionγ+p→π+ was measured at pion CM-angles of 20° and 30° for photon energies between 500 MeV and 1,400 MeV. The pions were detected in a magnetic spectrometer. By measuring each pion trajectory and by offline calculation of the initial pion parameters an energy resolution of about 2.5% FWHM was achieved. The results complete a set of data which were measured in recent years at the Bonn 2.5 GeV synchrotron. In comparison to photoproduction analyses two effects were revealed: The η cusp appears in the energy dependence of the cross section as a sharp drop atKγ=710 MeV. In the region of the third resonance the data show a greater enhancement than predicted by most of the analyses.