Optical model for deuteron-induced elastic scattering on light nuclei from 3He to 16O

An optical model analysis is performed for deuteron-induced elastic scattering on light nuclei from 3 He to 16 O over an extended energy range from 10 to 270 MeV. The aim of this study is to perform systematic local optical-model analysis of differential elastic scattering data and to compare the results with those obtained from widely used global parameterizations. Experimental angular distributions are extracted from the EXFOR database and analyzed within a Woods-Saxon potential framework, with particular attention given to the systematic behavior of optical-model parameters for different target masses and energies. Absorption mechanisms have been studied varying the role of surface and volume components in the imaginary potential. A spin–orbit term was included in the calculations using standard fixed parameters in order to maintain consistency with conventional optical-model descriptions; however, no attempt was made to extract systematics of the spin–orbit interaction due to the limited sensitivity of elastic scattering data without polarization observables, revealing a systematic transition from surface-dominated absorption in light and cluster-like nuclei—driven by deuteron breakup—to increasingly volume-dominated absorption for heavier systems. Volume integrals of both the volume and surface imaginary components, together with reaction cross sections, were calculated to assess the consistency and stability of the fitted potentials and to examine systematic trends. Comparisons to global optical-model potentials show that global models give a reasonable reproduction of the average behavior at forward angles, but often deviate at intermediate and backward angles, with the local fits generally providing better agreement with the angular distributions. These results underline the importance of localized analyses for deuteron elastic scattering on light nuclei and allow for a quantitative and systematic assessment of the applicability of global optical potentials in this mass region.