The ¹⁴⁴Sm-α optical potential at astrophysically relevant energies derived from ¹⁴⁴Sm(α,α)¹⁴⁴Sm elastic scattering

For the determination of the $^{144}Sm-\alpha$ optical potential we measured the angular distribution of $^{144}Sm(\alpha,\alpha)^{144}Sm$ scattering at the energy $E_{lab} = 20 MeV$ with high accuracy. Using the known systematics of $\alpha$-nucleus optical potentials we are able to derive the $^{144}Sm-\alpha$ optical potential at the astrophysically relevant energy $E_{c.m.} = 9.5 MeV$ with very limited uncertainties.