Two-kaon production in proton-deuteron collisions has been studied at three energies close to threshold using a calibrated magnetic spectrograph to measure the final 3 He and a vertex detector to measure the K + K − pair. Differential and total cross sections are presented for the production of φ-mesons, decaying through φ → K + K − , as well as for prompt K + K − production. The prompt production seems to follow phase space in both its differential distributions and in its energy dependence. The amplitude for the pd → 3 He φ reaction varies little for excess energies below 22 MeV and the value is consistent with that obtained from a threshold measurement. The angular distribution of the K + K − decay pair shows that near threshold the φ-mesons are dominantly produced with polarization m = 0 along the initial proton direction. No conclusive evidence for f 0 (980) production is found in the data.

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