Impact of charge noise on electron exchange interactions in semiconductors

The electron exchange interaction is a promising medium for the entanglement of single-spin qubits in semiconductors as it results in high-speed two-qubit gates. The quality of such entangling gates is reduced by the presence of noise caused by nearby defects acting as two-level fluctuators. To date, the effect of charge noise has been calculated assuming a Gaussian distribution of exchange interaction frequencies between the qubits equivalent to a linear coupling of charge noise with the exchange interaction. In reality the coupling can differ significantly from this linear-coupling approximation depending on the inter-qubit tunnel coupling, detuning of the qubit system, and the magnitude of charge noise. We derive analytical expressions for the frequency spectra of exchange oscillations that encompasses both linear and non-linear coupling to charge-noise. The resulting decoherence times and decay profiles of the exchange oscillations vary considerably. When compared with recent experiments our model shows that non-linear charge-noise coupling is significant and requires consideration to characterise and optimise exchange-based entangling gates.