J/psi production and suppression at SPS energies

We present the set of measurements carried out by the NA50 experiment to study J/psi production in proton- and ion-induced reactions. We also make use of results obtained previously under similar conditions by experiments NA51, NA38 and NA3. All these measurements were performed in fixed target experiments at the CERN SPS. Due to accelerator constraints, momentum was 450, 400 and 200 GeV/c for incident proton beams (corresponding to root s- = 29.0, 27.4, 19.4 GeV respectively) whereas, for ion beams, incident momentum was 200 GeV/nucleon for oxygen and sulfur and 158 GeV/nucleon for Pb beams (root s = 19.4 and root s- = 17.2 GeV respectively). The p-A data allow us to determine with high accuracy the absorption cross section of the (pre-)resonant c state with nuclear matter. The J/psi production cross section normally expected for ion-induced reactions can then be determined and compared to the results obtained from the data collected for oxygen- and sulfur-induced collisions. Finally, we also present the most recent results on J/psi production in Pb-Pb interactions. They are based on the last data sample collected with an improved experimental set-up and are compared with the expectations inferred from similar measurements on lighter nuclei collisions.