Photoproduction of phi meson off the deuteron near threshold

We discuss coherent and incoherent phi meson photoproduction off the deuteron at low energy and small momentum transfer with the aim to check whether the recent experimental data need for their interpretation an inclusion of exotic channels. Our analysis of the differential cross section and spin-density matrix elements shows that new data on the gamma D phi X reaction at E_gamma 2~GeV may be understood on the basis of conventional dynamics. However, a certain ambiguity of the deviation between the model predictions and the LEPS data on gamma p phi p reaction still remains. For a firm conclusion about a possible manifestation of exotic channels one has to improve the resolution of the data with providing additional information on channels with spin- and double-spin flip transitions being sensitive to the properties of the photoproduction amplitude in gamma p and gamma D reactions which may be used as an additional independent test of the phi meson photoproduction mechanism.