Local Spectroscopies Reveal Percolative Metal in Disordered Mott Insulators

Abstract

We elucidate the mechanism by which a Mott insulator transforms into a non-Fermi liquid metal upon increasing disorder at half filling. By correlating maps of the local density of states, the local magnetization and the local bond conductivity, we find a collapse of the Mott gap toward a V-shape pseudogapped density of states that occurs concomitantly with the decrease of magnetism around the highly disordered sites but an increase of bond conductivity. These metallic regions percolate to form an emergent non-Fermi liquid phase with a conductivity that increases with temperature. Bond conductivity measured via local microwave impedance combined with charge and spin local spectroscopies are ideal tools to corroborate our predictions.