Electrically-controllable RKKY interaction in semiconductor quantum wires

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.