A comparison of Woods-Saxon and double-folding potentials for lithium scattering from light target nuclei

Elastic scattering data are presented for ⁶Li at 36 MeV from ¹²O and ²⁶Mg and for ⁷Li at 28.8 MeV from ¹⁵N and at 27 MeV from ²⁵Mg over the range 15-95 degrees in the centre-of-mass frame. Microscopic optical potentials are generated for these scattering systems using the double-folding model. The sensitivity of the potentials to the prescriptions used for the nuclear density calculations is studied. The elastic scattering data are analysed within the framework of the optical model using both Woods-Saxon potentials and double-folding model real potentials with Woods-Saxon imaginary wells. Equally good fits to the data are obtained with the phenomenological and microscopic potentials. The double-folding potentials must be normalised by factors of 0.5 or 0.6 to fit the data in all cases except for ⁶Li scattering from ¹⁶O, for which a normalisation of 0.8 is favoured. These results are supplemented by those from an inelastic scattering analysis using DWBA and the collective rotational model for the first 2⁺ states in ¹²C and ²⁶Mg. The shapes of the phenomenological and microscopic potentials around the strong absorption radius are compared and the gradients are found to differ significantly for ⁷Li+¹⁵N and ⁶Li+¹²C systems.