Spin Wave Excitations in AFe$_{1.5}$Se$_2$ (A=K, Tl): Analytical Study

TL;DR

This paper analytically studies spin wave excitations in AFe$_{1.5}$Se$_2$ (A=K, Tl), revealing the excitation spectrum, phase boundaries, and effects of anisotropy, with implications for neutron scattering experiments.

Contribution

It provides an analytical solution for spin wave excitations in AFe$_{1.5}$Se$_2$, including phase boundary determination and the impact of spin anisotropy, based on first-principles calculations.

Findings

Identified one acoustic and two optical spin wave branches with double degeneracy.

Determined phase boundaries using non-imaginary excitation frequency conditions.

Showed small spin anisotropy suppresses quantum fluctuations significantly.

Abstract

We have analytically solved the spin wave excitations for the intercalated ternary iron-selenide AFe$_{1.5}$Se$_2$ (A=K, Tl) in the $4\times 2$ collinear antiferromagnetic order. It is found that there are one acoustic branch (gapless Goldstone mode) and two gapful optical branches of spin wave excitations with each in double degeneracy. By examining the non-imaginary excitation frequency condition, we can determine the corresponding phase boundary. The exchange couplings between Fe moments in AFe$_{1.5}$Se$_2$ are derived based on the first-principles total energy calculations. The Fe spin is found to be $S=3/2$ through computing the antiferromagnetic quantum fluctuation. And it is further found that a very small spin-orientation anisotropy can remarkably suppress the antiferromagnetic quantum fluctuation. The spin dynamical structure factors are calculated and discussed in association with neutron inelastic scattering experiment.