Differential and total cross sections for the quasifree reactions $gamma prightarroweta p$ and $gamma nrightarroweta n$ have been determined at the MAMI-C electron accelerator using a liquid deuterium target. Photons were produced via bremsstrahlung
from the 1.5 GeV incident electron beam and energy-tagged with the Glasgow photon tagger. Decay photons of the neutral decay modes $etarightarrow 2gamma$ and $etarightarrow 3pi^0 rightarrow 6gamma$ and coincident recoil nucleons were detected in a combined setup of the Crystal Ball and the TAPS calorimeters. The $eta$-production cross sections were measured in coincidence with recoil protons, recoil neutrons, and in an inclusive mode without a condition on recoil nucleons, which allowed a check of the internal consistency of the data. The effects from nuclear Fermi motion were removed by a kinematic reconstruction of the final-state invariant mass and possible nuclear effects on the quasifree cross section were investigated by a comparison of free and quasifree proton data. The results, which represent a significant improvement in statistical quality compared to previous measurements, agree with the known neutron-to-proton cross-section ratio in the peak of the $S_{11}(1535)$ resonance and confirm a peak in the neutron cross section, which is absent for the proton, at a center-of-mass energy $W = (1670pm 5)$ MeV with an intrinsic width of $Gammaapprox 30$ MeV.
Quasi-free photoproduction of $eta$-mesons has been measured off nucleons bound in $^3$He nuclei for incident photon energies from the threshold region up to 1.4 GeV. The experiment was performed at the tagged photon facility of the Mainz MAMI accele
rator with an almost $4pi$ covering electromagnetic calorimeter, combining the TAPS and Crystal Ball detectors. The $eta$-mesons were detected in coincidence with the recoil nucleons. This allowed a comparison of the production cross section off quasi-free protons and quasi-free neutrons and a full kinematic reconstruction of the final state, eliminating effects from nuclear Fermi motion. In the $S_{11}$(1535) resonance peak, the data agree with the neutron/proton cross section ratio extracted from measurements with deuteron targets. More importantly, the prominent structure observed in photoproduction off quasi-free neutrons bound in the deuteron is also clearly observed. Its parameters (width, strength) are consistent with the expectations from the deuteron results. On an absolute scale the cross sections for both quasi-free protons and neutrons are suppressed with respect to the deuteron target pointing to significant nuclear final state interaction effects.
The photoproduction of $eta$-mesons off nucleons bound in $^2$H and $^3$He has been measured in coincidence with recoil protons and recoil neutrons for incident photon energies from threshold up to 1.4 GeV. The experiments were performed at the Mainz
MAMI accelerator, using the Glasgow tagged photon facility. Decay photons from the $etarightarrow 2gamma$ and $etarightarrow 3pi^0$ decays and the recoil nucleons were detected with an almost $4pi$ electromagnetic calorimeter combining the Crystal Ball and TAPS detectors. The data from both targets are of excellent statistical quality and show a narrow structure in the excitation function of $gamma nrightarrow neta$. The results from the two measurements are consistent taking into account the expected effects from nuclear Fermi motion. The best estimates for position and intrinsic width of the structure are $W$ = (1670$pm$5) MeV and $Gamma$ =(30$pm$15) MeV. For the first time precise results for the angular dependence of this structure have been extracted.
