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Spin-orbit excitations and electronic structure of the putative Kitaev magnet<mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><mml:mrow><mml:mi>α</mml:mi><mml:mo>−</mml:mo><mml:msub><mml:mi>RuCl</mml:mi><mml:mn>3</mml:mn></mml:msub></mml:mrow></mml:math>
Mott insulators with strong spin-orbit coupling have been proposed to host unconventional magnetic states, including the Kitaev quantum spin liquid. The 4$d$ system $\alpha$-RuCl$_3$ has recently come into view as a candidate Kitaev system, with evidence for unusual spin excitations in magnetic scattering experiments. We apply a combination of optical …