Near itinerancy and slow singlet formation in the triangular lattice NaRuO2

NaRuO$_2$ forms a delafossite-like structure that contains triangular sublattices of edge-sharing RuO$_6$ octahedra. It shows no evidence of magnetic order down to 100 mK and persistent spin fluctuations, suggestive of a quantum disordered magnetic ground state. In order to characterize the physical regime from which this disordered state arises, we use resonant inelastic X-ray scattering (RIXS) and X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) at the Ru-$L_{2,3}$-edge, along with pulsed high-field magnetization to characterize both the local electronic structure and the magnetic interactions. Despite significant spin-orbit coupling inferred from XAS measurements, a spin-orbit exciton, characteristic of a spin-orbit assisted Mott insulator, was not observed with RIXS due to the presence of damped intraorbital excitations, which are characteristic of a metal. Corroborated by models of the high-field magnetization to a random singlet model, we propose a picture of a nearly itinerant system with strong magnetic and charge fluctuations that destabilize long-range magnetic order.