  Lack of inversion symmetry at a metallic surface can lead to an observable
spin-orbit interaction. For certain metal surfaces, such as the Au(111)
surface, the experimentally observed spin-orbit coupling results in spin
rotation lengths on the order of tens of nanometers, which is the typical
length scale associated with quantum corral structures formed on metal
surfaces. In this work, multiple scattering theory is used to calculate the
local density of states (LDOS) of quantum corral structures comprised of
nonmagnetic adatoms in the presence of spin-orbit coupling. Contrary to
previous theoretical predictions, spin-orbit coupling induced modulations are
observed in the theoretical LDOS, which should be observable using scanning
tunneling microscopy.
