Physical Review Research (Oct 2022)

Pseudogap suppression by competition with superconductivity in La-based cuprates

  • J. Küspert,
  • R. Cohn Wagner,
  • C. Lin,
  • K. von Arx,
  • Q. Wang,
  • K. Kramer,
  • W. R. Pudelko,
  • N. C. Plumb,
  • C. E. Matt,
  • C. G. Fatuzzo,
  • D. Sutter,
  • Y. Sassa,
  • J.-Q. Yan,
  • J.-S. Zhou,
  • J. B. Goodenough,
  • S. Pyon,
  • T. Takayama,
  • H. Takagi,
  • T. Kurosawa,
  • N. Momono,
  • M. Oda,
  • M. Hoesch,
  • C. Cacho,
  • T. K. Kim,
  • M. Horio,
  • J. Chang

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevResearch.4.043015
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 4, no. 4
p. 043015

Abstract

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We carried out a comprehensive high-resolution angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) study of the pseudogap interplay with superconductivity in La-based cuprates. The three systems La_{2−x}Sr_{x}CuO_{4}, La_{1.6−x}Nd_{0.4}Sr_{x}CuO_{4}, and La_{1.8−x}Eu_{0.2}Sr_{x}CuO_{4} display slightly different pseudogap critical points in the temperature versus doping phase diagram. We studied the pseudogap evolution into the superconducting state for doping concentrations just below the critical point. In this setting, near optimal doping for superconductivity and in the presence of the weakest possible pseudogap, we uncover how the pseudogap is partially suppressed inside the superconducting state. This conclusion is based on the direct observation of a reduced pseudogap energy scale and re-emergence of spectral weight suppressed by the pseudogap. Altogether these observations suggest that the pseudogap phenomenon in La-based cuprates is in competition with superconductivity for antinodal spectral weight.