  The effects of spin-orbit coupling on the two-electron spectra in lateral
coupled quantum dots are investigated analytically and numerically. It is
demonstrated that in the absence of magnetic field the exchange interaction is
practically unaffected by spin-orbit coupling, for any interdot coupling,
boosting prospects for spin-based quantum computing. The anisotropic exchange
appears at finite magnetic fields. A numerically accurate effective spin
Hamiltonian for modeling spin-orbit-induced two-electron spin dynamics in the
presence of magnetic field is proposed.
