Control of the two-electron exchange interaction in a nanowire double quantum dot

Abstract

The two-electron exchange coupling in a nanowire double quantum dot (DQD) is shown to possess Moriya's anisotropic superexchange interaction under the influence of both the Rashba and Dresselhaus spin-orbit couplings (SOCs) and a Zeeman field. We reveal the controllability of the anisotropic exchange interaction via tuning the SOC and the direction of the external magnetic field. The exchange interaction can be transformed into an isotropic Heisenberg interaction, but the uniform magnetic field becomes an effective inhomogeneous field whose measurable inhomogeneity reflects the SOC strength. Moreover, the presence of the effective inhomogeneous field gives rise to an energy-level anticrossing in the low-energy spectrum of the DQD. By fitting the analytical expression for the energy gap to the experimental spectroscopic detections [S. Nadj-Perge et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 108, 166801 (2012)], we obtain the complete features of the SOC in an InSb nanowire DQD.