Weak spin interactions in Mott insulating La2O2Fe2OSe2

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.