The charge and spin dynamics of the structurally simplest iron-based superconductor, FeSe, may hold the key to understanding the physics of high temperature superconductors in general. Unlike the iron pnictides, FeSe lacks long range magnetic order in spite of a similar structural transition around 90 K. Here, we report results of Raman scattering experiments as a function of temperature and polarization and simulations based on exact diagonalization of a frustrated spin model. Both experiment and theory find a persistent low energy peak close to 500 cm −1 in B 1 g symmetry, which softens slightly around 100 K, that we assign to spin excitations. By comparing with results from neutron scattering, this study provides evidence for nearly frustrated stripe order in FeSe.

Inelastic Raman scattering is used to probe the critical spin fluctuations in an iron pnictide superconductor, providing insights into the origin of nematic order in this system. Nematic fluctuations and order play a prominent role in material classes such as the cuprates1, some ruthenates2 or the iron-based compounds3,4,5,6 and may be interrelated with superconductivity7,8,9,10,11. In iron-based compounds12 signatures of nematicity have been observed in a variety of experiments. However, the fundamental question as to the relevance of the related spin13, charge9,14 or orbital8,15,16 fluctuations remains open. Here, we use inelastic light (Raman) scattering and study Ba(Fe1−xCox)2As2 (0 ≤ x ≤ 0.085) for getting direct access to nematicity and the underlying critical fluctuations with finite characteristic wavelengths17,18,19,20,21. We show that the response from fluctuations appears only in B1g (x2 − y2) symmetry (1 Fe unit cell). The scattering amplitude increases towards the structural transition at Ts but vanishes only below the magnetic ordering transition at TSDW < Ts, suggesting a magnetic origin of the fluctuations. The theoretical analysis explains the selection rules and the temperature dependence of the fluctuation response. These results make magnetism the favourite candidate for driving the series of transitions.