Power-law Conductivity inside the Mott gap: application to $\kappa-(BEDT-TTF)_2Cu_2(CN)_3$

Abstract

The charge dynamics of spin-liquid states described by U(1) gauge theory coupling to fermionic spinons is discussed in this paper. We find that the gapless spinons give rise to a power law optical conductivity inside the charge gap. The theory is applied to explain the unusual optical conductivity observed recently in the organic compound $\kappa-(BEDT-TTF)_2Cu_2(CN)_3$. We also propose an optical experiment to search for the in-gap excitations in the Kagome spin liquid insulator.