Magnetic Properties Controlled by Interstitial or Interlayer Cations in Iron Chalcogenides

By applying density functional theory calculations to iron chalcogenides, we find that magnetic order in Fe$_{1+y}$Te and magnetic instability at $(π,π)$ in K$_y$Fe$_2$Se$_2$ are controlled by interstitial and interlayer cations, respectively. While in Fe$_{1+y}$Te, magnetic phase transitions occur among collinear, exotic bicollinear and plaquette-ordered antiferronmagnetic states when the height of interstitial irons measured from iron plane or the concentration of interstitial irons is varied, the magnetic instability at $(π,π)$ which is believed to be responsible for the Cooper pairing in iron pnictides is significantly enhanced when $y$ is much smaller than $1$ in K$_y$Fe$_2$Se$_2$. Our results indicate that, similar to iron pnictides, itinerant electrons play important roles in iron chalcogenides, even though the fluctuating local moments become larger.

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