Elastic scattering theory for electronic waves in quantum corrals.

Recent scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) studies on the (111) faces of noble metals have directly imaged electronic surface-connned states, and dramatic standing-wave patterns have been observed in geometrically arranged \quantum corral" structures formed by Fe adatoms on Cu(111). We present a coherent elastic scattering theory for the electronic states in these \leaky" connning structures by seeking solutions of the two-dimensional Schrr odinger equation compatible with Sommerfeld radiation conditions. A direct comparison to the reported experimental data reveals excellent agreement with our elastic scattering theory. We are led to the conclusion that the Fe adatoms are well modeled by nite-height potential barriers, as opposed to \black dot" absorbing scatterers, and that the adatoms do not signiicantly couple the surface-state electrons to the bulk metallic states.