Woods-Saxon equivalent to a double folding potential

A Woods-Saxon equivalent to a double folding potential in the surface region is obtained for the heavy-ion scattering potential. The Woods-Saxon potential has fixed geometry and was applied as a bare potential in the analysis of experimental data of several systems. A new analytical formula for the position and height of the Coulomb barrier is presented, which reproduces the results obtained using double folding potentials. This simple formula has been applied to estimate the fusion cross section above the Coulomb barrier. A comparison with experimental data is presented.