Recent results from LEPS and prospects of LEPS II at SPring-8

SPring-8/LEPS is a highly polarized GeV photon beam facility for hadron physics. Photoproduction of hadrons with the strangeness have been studied intensively. In this article, recent results of LEPS and status of the development of LEPS2 project are reported. The spin-density matrix elements of K*(0) photoproduction associated with a Sigma(+) have been measured for the first time in the forward angle region at LEPS. The result show the contribution of natural parity exchange in t-channel, which is consistent with a K(800) meson-exchange model. On the pentaquark candidate, circle minus(+), a clear peak structure is seen in new exclusive analyses using increased statistics data of the gamma d -> K+ K- X reaction. In order to increase the luminosity and to extend the detector acceptance, a new project, LEPS II, has started. The status of the construction of the LEPS II is described in this article. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.