Neutron Scattering Measurements of Anisotropic Magnetic Exchange Interactions in Semiconducting K0.85Fe1.54Se2 (TN=280K)

Abstract

We use neutron scattering to study the spin excitations associated with the stripe antiferromagnetic (AFM) order in semiconducting K0.85Fe1.54Se2 (TN=280 K). We show that the spin wave spectra can be accurately described by an effective Heisenberg Hamiltonian with highly anisotropic in-plane couplings at T= 5 K. At high temperature (T= 300 K) above TN, short range magnetic correlation with anisotropic correlation lengths are observed. Our results suggest that, despite the dramatic difference in the Fermi surface topology, the in-plane anisotropic magnetic coupings are a fundamental property of the iron based compounds; this implies that their antiferromagnetism may originate from local strong correlation effects rather than weak coupling Fermi surface nesting.