Weak spin interactions in Mott insulating la 2 O 2 Fe 2 OSe 2

Identifying and characterizing the parent phases of iron-based superconductors is an important step towards understanding the mechanism for their high-temperature superconductivity. We present an investigation into the magnetic interactions in the Mott insulator La2O2Fe2OSe2. This iron oxyselenide adopts a 2-k magnetic structure with low levels of magnetic frustration. This magnetic ground state is found to be dominated by next-nearest-neighbor interactions J2 and J2′ and the magnetocrystalline anisotropy of the Fe2+ site, leading to 2D-Ising-like spin S=2 fluctuations. In contrast to calculations, the values are small and confine the spin excitations below ∼25 meV. This is further corroborated by sum rules of neutron scattering. This indicates that superconductivity in related materials may derive from a weakly coupled and unfrustrated magnetic structure.