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 Ce
$_{2}$O$_{2}$FeSe$_{2}$ 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-neighbour Fe -- Se -- Fe interactions in the ZrCuSiAs-related iron oxyselenide Ce$_{2}$O$_{2}$FeSe$_{2}$. 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 Ce$_{2}$O$_{2}$FeSe$_{2}$ are weak. The Fe on-site repulsion $U_{Fe}$ is comparable to that reported for oxyarsenides and K$_{1-x}$Fe$_{2-y}$Se$_{2}$, which are parents to iron-based superconductors.
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 Mo
tt 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.
