Study of N* resonances by eta photoproduction

Photoproduction of neutral mesons is very well suited to investigate the excitation of baryon resonances on free and bound nucleons. The isoscalar eta-meson does not couple to Delta-resonances and therefore provides a very selective tool for the study os isospin T=1/2 N* resonances. The eta photoproduction from protons in the threshold region is strongly dominated by the excitations of the S11(1535) resonance. The electromagnetic coupling gamma p-> S11 as well as contributions from other resonances (P11, Roper)are of fundamental interest for hadron models. We have studied eta photoproduction form the proton, deuteron, and some complex nuclei (C, Ca,Nb,Pb) at the Mainz microtron using the TAPS detector system.