OBTAINING AVERAGE ANGULAR MOMENTA FROM FUSION EXCITATION-FUNCTIONS NEAR THE COULOMB BARRIER

Strong coupling to direct reaction channels causes the fusion excitati on function close to the Coulomb barrier to behave very differently fr om that due to a simple potential barrier. The average compound nucleu s angular momentum [l] is also strongly affected. It is shown how to o btain [l] from a fusion excitation function using a model whose only p arameter is the diffuseness of the nuclear potential.