  Based on a momentum-space in-medium folding model, we disclose the universal
separability of the optical potential, revealing its radial and nonlocality
features at beam energies in the range 40 - 400 MeV and target mass numbers in
the range $40\le A\le 208$. From this microscopic study we find that the
nonlocality form factor is inherently complex and of hydrogenic nature,
affecting both central and spin-orbit components of the potential. A striking
outcome from this study is the consistent appearance of a nodal point in the
imaginary radial form factor, notably suppressing surface absorption peaks, in
evident contrast with Woods-Saxon's assumption of an absorptive peak at the
nuclear surface. Our analysis reveals that the complex radial form factor can
effectively be represented as convolutions of uniform spherical distribution
with a Gaussian form factor and a Yukawa term. These robust
microscopically-driven findings offer new ways for investigating nuclear
reactions beyond the restricting Woods-Saxon and Perey-Buck assumptions.
