Mott localization in a pure stripe antiferromagnet Rb$_{1-δ}$Fe$_{1.5-σ}$S$_2$

Abstract: A combination of neutron diffraction and angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy measurements on a pure antiferromagnetic stripe Rb${1-\delta}$Fe${1.5-\sigma}$S$2$ is reported. A neutron diffraction experiment on a powder sample shows that a 98$\%$ volume fraction of the sample is in the antiferromagnetic stripe phase with rhombic iron vacancy order and a refined composition of Rb${0.66}$Fe${1.36}$S${2}$, and that only 2$\%$ of the sample is in the block antiferromagnetic phase with $\sqrt{5}\times \sqrt{5}$ iron vacancy order. Furthermore, a neutron diffraction experiment on a single crystal shows that there is only a single phase with the stripe antiferromagnetic order with the refined composition of Rb${0.78}$Fe${1.35}$S$_2$, while the phase with block antiferromagnetic order is absent. Angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy measurements on the same crystal with the pure stripe phase reveal that the electronic structure is gapped at the Fermi level with a gap larger than 0.325 eV. The data collectively demonstrates that the extra 10$\%$ iron vacancies in addition to the rhombic iron vacancy order effectively impede the formation of the block antiferromagnetic phase; the data also suggest that the stripe antiferromagnetic phase with rhombic iron vacancy order is a Mott insulator.