  The semiconductor Sr2FeOsO6, depending on temperature, adopts two types of
spin structures that differ in the spin sequence of ferrimagnetic iron - osmium
layers along the tetragonal c-axis. Neutron powder diffraction experiments,
57Fe M\"ossbauer spectra, and density-functional theory calculations suggest
that this behavior arises because a lattice instability resulting in
alternating iron-osmium distances fine-tunes the balance of competing exchange
interactions. Thus, Sr2FeOsO6 is an example for a double perovskite, in which
the electronic phases are controlled by the interplay of spin, orbital, and
lattice degrees of freedom.
