Elastic alpha-scattering on proton rich nuclei at astrophysically relevant energies

In order to improve the reliability of statistical model calculations in the region of heavy proton rich nuclei several elastic alpha scattering experiments have been carried out at low bombarding energies on various even-even and semi-magic nuclei. The extracted local optical potential parameters can be compared with the predictions of global alpha potentials. A study on Sn-112,Sn-124(alpha,alpha)Sn-112,Sn-124 has been made to test the global alpha potentials at both the proton and neutron rich sides of an isotopic chain. The present work describes the experimental challenges of high precision scattering experiments at low energy.