Hadronic He-3 eta production near threshold

Measurements of {eta} meson production in proton-deuteron collisions have been performed using the COSY-11 facility at COSY (Juelich). Results on total and differential cross sections for the pd{yields}{sup 3}He{eta} reaction are presented at five excess energies between Q=5.0 and Q=40.6 MeV. The angular distributions show a transition from an almost isotropic emission close to threshold to a highly anisotropic distribution at higher excess energies. The total cross sections reveal a strong {eta}-{sup 3}He final state interaction, corresponding to a scattering length of vertical bar real(a) vertical bar=(4.2{+-}0.5) fm and (a)=(0.4{+-}1.9) fm.