A semiclassical analysis of an optical potential cross section is presented. The cross section considered is characterized by the appearance of an Airy-like pattern. This pattern is similar to that which is present in many cross sections, which fit the recent measurements of light heavy ion elastic scattering, and is considered as a manifestation of a rainbow phenomenon. The semiclassical analysis shows that, in the case considered, the oscillations arise from the interference between the contributions from two different terms of a multireflection expansion of the scattering function, and, therefore, cannot be associated with the rainbow phenomenon.

• Received 9 November 2000

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevC.63.031601