Angle-resolved photoemission study of the Kitaev candidate α-RuCl3

alpha-RuCl3 has been hinted to be a spin-orbital-assisted Mott insulator in proximity to a Kitaev spin liquid state. Here we present angle-resolved photoemission measurements on single-crystal alpha-RuCl3 in both the pristine and electron-doped states, and combine them with Local Density Approximation (LDA)+Spin Orbital Coupling (SOC)+U calculations performed for several low-energy competing magnetically ordered states as well as the paramagnetic state. A large Mott gap is found in the measured band structure of the pristine compound that persists to more than 30 times beyond the magnetic ordering temperature, though the paramagnetic calculation shows almost no gap. Upon electron doping, spectral weight is transferred into the gap but the new states still maintain a sizable gap from the Fermi edge. These findings are most consistent with a Mott insulator with a somewhat exotic evolution out of the Mott state with both temperature and doping, likely related to unusually strong spin fluctuations.