Magnetism of the Fe2+ and Ce3+ sublattices in Ce2O2FeSe2: A combined neutron powder diffraction, inelastic neutron scattering, and density functional study

The discovery of superconductivity in the 122 iron selenide materials above 30 K necessitates an understanding of the underlying magnetic interactions. We present a combined experimental and theoretical investigation of magnetic and semiconducting Ce2O2FeSe2 composed of chains of edge-linked iron selenide tetrahedra. The combined neutron diffraction and inelastic scattering study and density functional calculations confirm the ferromagnetic nature of nearest-neighbor Fe-Se-Fe interactions in the ZrCuSiAs-related iron oxyselenide Ce2O2FeSe2. Inelastic measurements provide an estimate of the strength of nearest-neighbor Fe-Fe and Fe-Ce interactions. These are consistent with density functional theory calculations, which reveal that correlations in the Fe-Se sheets of Ce2O2FeSe2 are weak. The Fe on-site repulsion U-Fe is comparable to that reported for oxyarsenides and K1-xFe2-ySe2, which are parents to iron-based superconductors.