A systematic investigation has been carried out on the angular dependence of the polarization in the elastic scattering of 10-Mev protons by complex nuclei. Strong polarization effects, which vary smoothly with scattering angle and atomic number of target nucleus, appear to be a general feature of the scattering process. All the data are fitted reasonably well by a 5-parameter "optical model potential" (containing a spin-orbit term) in which the only variable is the $A^{\frac{1}{3}}$ dependence of the radius. The strength of the spin-orbit term required to account for the polarization is approximately the same as has been postulated in the shell model.

• Received 9 September 1960

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRev.121.1423