Cross-section measurement of charged-pion photoproduction from hydrogen and deuterium

We have measured the differential cross section for the gamman-->pi(-)p and gammap-->pi(+)n reactions at theta(c.m.)=90degrees in the photon energy range from 1.1 to 5.5 GeV at Jefferson Lab (JLab). The data at E(gamma)greater than or similar to3.3 GeV exhibit a global scaling behavior for both pi(-) and pi(+) photoproduction, consistent with the constituent counting rule and the existing pi(+) photoproduction data. Possible oscillations around the scaling value are suggested by these new data. The data show enhancement in the scaled cross section at a center-of-mass energy near 2.2 GeV. The cross section ratio of exclusive pi(-) to pi(+) photoproduction at high energy is consistent with the prediction based on one-hard-gluon-exchange diagrams.