ELASTIC-SCATTERING THEORY FOR ELECTRONIC WAVES IN QUANTUM CORRALS

Recent scanning-tunneling-microscopy studies on the (111) faces of nob le metals have directly imaged electronic surface-confined states, and dramatic standing-wave patterns have been observed in geometrically a rranged quantum corral structures formed by Fe adatoms on Cu(lll). We present a coherent elastic scattering theory for the electronic states in these ''leaky'' confining structures by seeking solutions of the t wo-dimensional Schrodinger equation compatible with Sommerfeld radiati on conditions. A direct comparison to the reported experimental data r eveals excellent agreement with our elastic-scattering theory. We are led to the conclusion that the Fe adatoms are well modeled by finite-h eight potential barriers, as opposed to ''black dot'' absorbing scatte rers, and that the adatoms do not significantly couple the surface-sta te electrons to the bulk metallic states.