Spin-orbit terms in heavy-ion elastic scattering potentials

A general double folding prescription is used in conjunction with a realistic $G$ matrix interaction to estimate the strength of the elastic spin-orbit potential for several heavy-ion systems. The potentials obtained give a reasonable description of recent elastic asymmetry data obtained with polarized ${}_{}{}^6{}_{}{}^{}\mathrm{Li}$ ions, but they are much smaller than those assumed in recent analyses of some heavy-ion transfer reactions. The calculated spin-orbit potentials have essentially no effect on elastic angular distributions.