Near-barrier quasielastic scattering as a sensitive tool to derive nuclear matter diffuseness

Abstract

Quasielastic excitation functions for the ${}^{16,18}$O $+$ ${}^{60}$Ni systems were measured at energies near and below the Coulomb barrier, at the backward angle \ensuremath{\theta}${}_{\mathrm{LAB}}$ $=$ 161\ifmmode^\circ\else\textdegree\fi{}. The corresponding quasielastic barrier distributions were derived. The data were compared with predictions from coupled channel calculations using a double-folding potential as a bare potential. For the ${}^{16}$O-induced scattering, good agreement was obtained for the barrier distribution by using the projectile default nuclear matter diffuseness obtained from the S\~ao Paulo potential systematic, that is, 0.56 fm. However, for the ${}^{18}$O-induced scattering, good agreement was obtained only when the projectile nuclear matter diffuseness was changed to 0.62 fm. Therefore, in this paper we show how near-barrier quasielastic scattering can be used as a sensitive tool to derive nuclear matter diffuseness.