An explicit spatial localization of a hole is shown in a two-leg t-J ladder in the presence of a staggered chemical potential, which still retains a translational symmetry, by density matrix renormalization group method. Delocalization can be recovered in the following cases, where either the hidden phase string effect is turned off or a finite next-nearest-neighbor hopping t is added to sufficiently weaken the phase string effect. In addition, two holes are always delocalized by forming a mobile bound pair, in contrast to the localized single holes, which points to a novel pairing mechanism as one of the essential properties of a doped Mott insulator.
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