Electrically-controllable RKKY interaction in semiconductor quantum wires

TL;DR

This paper theoretically demonstrates how to electrically control the RKKY interaction in semiconductor quantum wires with spin-orbit coupling, enabling tunable spin models for quantum computing applications.

Contribution

It introduces a method to all-electrically manipulate the RKKY interaction in semiconductor quantum wires with Rashba and Dresselhaus spin-orbit interactions, allowing realization of various spin models.

Findings

Interaction becomes short-ranged Bloembergen-Rowland super-exchange in gapped systems

Interaction can be tuned to realize different spin models

Control achieved via electric field and crystallographic orientation

Abstract

We demonstrate in theory that it is possible to all-electrically manipulate the RKKY interaction in a quasi-one-dimensional electron gas embedded in a semiconductor heterostructure, in the presence of Rashba and Dresselhaus spin-orbit interaction. In an undoped semiconductor quantum wire where intermediate excitations are gapped, the interaction becomes the short-ranged Bloembergen-Rowland super-exchange interaction. Owing to the interplay of different types of spin-orbit interaction, the interaction can be controlled to realize various spin models, e.g., isotropic and anisotropic Heisenberg-like models, Ising-like models with additional Dzyaloshinsky-Moriya terms, by tuning the external electric field and designing the crystallographic directions. Such controllable interaction forms a basis for quantum computing with localized spins and quantum matters in spin lattices.