Available online at www.sciencedirect.com Nuclear Physics A 888 (2012) 34–43 www.elsevier.com/locate/nuclphysa Comparative study of Coulomb barrier parameters for deformed nuclei using double-folding model and proximity approach M. Ismail, I.A.M. Abdul-Magead ∗ Physics Department, Faculty of Science, Cairo University, Egypt Received 10 December 2011; received in revised form 23 May 2012; accepted 30 May 2012 Available online 4 June 2012 Abstract In the present paper we discuss the differences between the fusion barrier parameters (the height of Coulomb barrier V B and its radius R B ) computed by two methods namely; the proximity approach for coplanar and non-coplanar systems of interacting nuclei and double folding model. The minimum separa- tion distance, s , between the deformed surfaces of interacting nuclei was determined exactly from numerical calculations and the results of Coulomb parameters were compared with previous calculations based on ap- proximate determination of s . We considered the three interaction systems 48 Ar + 238 Pu, 150 Nd + 150 Nd and 86 Kr + 180 Hf and found that V B and R B , evaluated by using the proximity approach, have too strong Φ-dependence for the system 150 Nd + 150 Nd at relative orientation angles of the nuclei symmetry axes θ 1 = θ 2 = 90 ◦ .  2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Keywords: Fusion barrier parameters; Proximity approach; Double folding models 1. Introduction The ground state of nuclei is characterized by a shape, which can be spherical or deformed. Nuclei of various shapes have been used in nuclear reaction experiments. The shapes of collid- ing nuclei are very important for fusion and other nuclear reactions [1]. Deformation in one or in both the two colliding nuclei enhances strongly the fusion cross section [2,3]. The cross sections * Corresponding author. E-mail address: iabudanckash@gmail.com (I.A.M. Abdul-Magead). 0375-9474/$ – see front matter  2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.nuclphysa.2012.05.011