Diffractive photo- and leptoproduction of vector mesons rho, rho ' and rho''

We calculate diffractive photo- and leptoproduction of rho-, rho'- and rho "-mesons. The incoming photon dissociates into a q (q) over bar-dipole whic h scatters on the nucleon and transforms into a vector meson state. The sca ttering amplitude is calculated in non-perturbative QCD with the model of t he stochastic vacuum. Assuming that the physical rho'- and rho "-mesons are mixed states of an active 2S-excitation and some residual hybrid state whi ch cannot be produced diffractively in lowest order QCD, we obtain good agr eement with the data, especially the markedly different spectrum in the pi( +)pi(-)-invariant mass for photoproduction and e(+)e(-)-annihilation.