The Sigma beam asymmetry in the photoproduction of neutral pions from quasi-free nucleons in a deuteron target was measured for the first time between 0.60 and 1.50 GeV, with the GRAAL polarized and tagged photon beam. The asymmetry values from the quasi-free proton were found equal to the ones extracted from a pure proton target. The asymmetries from quasi-free proton and quasi-free neutron were found equal up to 0.82 GeV and substantially different at higher energies. The results are compared with recent partial-wave analyses.

The static polarization of HD samples has been achieved using "brute force", for HD samples purified by double distillation. Proton polarization in excess of 60% and deuteron vector polarization higher than 14% have been reached. It has been demonstrated that the ageing technique allows to get relaxation times at 1.5 K and 1 T larger than a week. It is advocated that the conventional dynamic polarization of HD should be feasible for the proton and the deuteron contained in the HD molecule. This would simplify considerably the machinery presently necessary to perform nuclear physics experiments with HD targets polarized by the static method

The ep -> e'pp(0) reaction has been measured using the 5.754 GeV electron beam of Jefferson Lab and the CLAS detector. This represents the largest ever set of data for this reaction in the valence region. Integrated and differential cross-sections are presented. The W, Q(2) and t dependences of the cross-section are compared to theoretical calculations based on the t-channel meson-exchange Regge theory, on the one hand, and on quark handbag diagrams related to Generalized Parton Distributions (GPDs) on the other hand. The Regge approach can describe at the approximate to 30% level most of the features of the present data while the two GPD calculations that are presented in this article which succesfully reproduce the high-energy data strongly underestimate the present data. The question is then raised whether this discrepancy originates from an incomplete or inexact way of modelling the GPDs or the associated hard scattering amplitude or whether the GPD formalism is simply inapplicable in this region due to higher-twists contributions, incalculable at present.

Beam asymmetry and differential cross-section for the reaction gamma p -> eta p were measured from production threshold to 1500MeV photon laboratory energy. The two dominant neutral decay modes of the eta-meson, eta -> 2 gamma and eta -> 3 pi(0) , were analyzed. The full set of measurements is in good agreement with previously published results. Our data were compared with three models. They all fit satisfactorily the results but their respective resonance contributions are quite different. The possible photoexcitation of a narrow state N(1670) was investigated and no evidence was found.

Beam asymmetries and hyperon recoil polarizations for the reactions gamma p --> K+ Lambda and gamma p --> K+ Sigma(0) have been measured from the threshold production to 1500 MeV with the GRAAL facility located at the ESRF in Grenoble. These results complement the database for the beam asymmetry, covering for the first time the production threshold region. Recent theoretical analyses are presented for which the beam asymmetry data bring interesting new information and allow to better determine some resonance parameters. Most importantly, these results strengthen the need of a new D-13 state around 1900 MeV.

The features of the Graal experiment at ESRF are presented. The obtained results are discussed and future developments outlined. The Graal experiment started data taking in 1997. It was run for one year with the green laser line giving rise to a photon beam of maximum energy of 1100 MeV and for one year with UV multi-line and the corresponding gamma-ray beam of 1470 MeV maximum energy. Asymmetry data and cross sections have been produced for eta, pi 0 and pi + photoproduction channels providing, for these reactions, the most extended and coherent data base available until now. Future developments of the experiment will include the study of the same channels with deuteron target and the study of the photoreaction mechanism on the quasi-free neutron. The use of a polarised target of new concept will allow to access double polarisation observables for meson photoproduction on polarised proton and polarised neutron. Finally the increase in the maximum photon energy, up to 1.8 GeV will allow to study in details eta' photoproduction and to reach the threshold for scalar mesons production

The double polarization (beam-recoil) observables O(x) and O(z) have been measured for the reaction gamma p -> K(+) Lambda from threshold production to E gamma similar to 1500 MeV. The data were obtained with the linearly polarized beam of the GRAAL facility. Values for the target asymmetry T could also be extracted despite the use of an unpolarized target. Analyses of our results by two isobar models tend to confirm the necessity to include new or poorly known resonances in the 1900 MeV mass region.

New experimental approach to study meson photoproduction in nuclei is discussed. It is based on the measurement of the recoil nucleon as a tagger for identification of the initial step of reaction. Propagation of mesons and nucleons within a nucleus is described by the Intra-Nuclear Cascade (INC) model. Simulations and preliminary experimental data for the deuteron target obtained at GRAAL are presented. (c) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The photoproduction of double pi(0) on the neutron is studied in the beam energy range of 0.6 up to 1.5 GeV, using a liquid deuterium target. The cross section and the beam asymmetry are extracted and compared to those previously obtained on a proton target. The theoretical interpretation of these results is given using different models. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The total photoabsorption cross section on a free proton was measured at the GRAAL facility in the energy range E-gamma = 600-1500 MeV. The large-aperture LAGRAN gamma E detector and a liquid hydrogen target were used in the experiment performed with a back-scattered Compton gamma beam. To improve the accuracy, two alternative methods were employed. First, a subtraction method of using empty-target measurements allowed the cross section sigma(tot) to be evaluated directly because of a low level of the electromagnetic background. Second, an algorithm for evaluating sigma(tot) on the basis of summing the dominating partial cross sections was developed. Experimental results obtained for sigma(tot) by the two methods are compared with existing data.