Resolving the orbital character of low-energy excitations in Mott insulator with intermediate spin-orbit coupling

Multi-band Mott insulators with moderate spin-orbit and Hund’s coupling are key reference points for theoretical concept developments of correlated electron systems. The ruthenate Mott insulator Ca2RuO4 has therefore been intensively studied by spectroscopic probes. However, it has been challenging to resolve the fundamental excitations emerging from the hierarchy of electronic energy scales. Here we apply high resolution resonant inelastic x-ray scattering to probe deeper into the low-energy electronic excitations found in Ca2RuO4. In this fashion, we probe a series of spin-orbital excitations. By taking advantage of enhanced energy resolution, we probe a 40 meV mode through the oxygen K-edge. The polarization dependence of this low-energy excitations exposes a distinct orbital nature, originating from the interplay of spin-orbit coupling and octahedral rotations. Additionally, we discuss the role of magnetic correlations to describe the occurrence of excitations with amplitudes which are multiple of a given energy. Such direct determination of relevant electronic energy scales sharpens the target for theory developments of Mott insulators’ orbital degree of freedom. Spin orbit coupling (SOC) is a feature crucial to many interesting physics phenomena ranging from Mott insulators to topological insulators. Here, the authors use resonant inelastic X-ray scattering to study the low-energy excitations of the Mott insulator, Ca2RuO4, and reveal the orbital character of the magnetic properties of the system.