The strongE andL dependence of the effective elastic channel potentials is shown to be an implicit radial kinetic energy (ε) dependence. It is also shown that this effective potential satisfies the dispersion relation inε variable at the strong absorption radius. Further, the experimental data for both elastic and fusion channels are consistent with thisL-dependence of the corresponding effective potentials. The effective transfer channel potentials derived using CRC code FRESCO are shown to exhibit strong energy dependence as a result of couplings. The energy dependence of effective transfer strength for¹⁶O+²⁰⁸Pb and¹⁶O+²³²Th systems is determined using the experimental transfer angular distributions.

It is shown that the analysis of fusion barrier distributions is not always an unambiguous test or a ‘fingerprint’ of the structure information of the colliding nuclei. Examples are presented with same fusion barrier distributions for nuclei having different structures. The fusion excitation functions for ¹⁶O+²⁰⁸Pb, using the coupled reaction channel (CRC) method and correct structure information, have been analysed. The barrier distributions derived from these excitation functions including many of the significant channels are featureless, although these channels have considerable effects on the fusion excitation function. However, a simultaneous analysis of the fusion, elastic and quasi-elastic channels would fix the structure and the reaction unambiguously.