Universal features in the photoemission spectroscopy of high-temperature superconductors.

The energy gap for electronic excitations is one of the most important characteristics of the superconducting state, as it directly reflects the pairing of electrons. In the copper-oxide high-temperature superconductors (HTSCs), a strongly anisotropic energy gap, which vanishes along high-symmetry directions, is a clear manifestation of the d-wave symmetry of the pairing. There is, however, a dramatic change in the form of the gap anisotropy with reduced carrier concentration (underdoping).

Electronic phase diagram of high-temperature copper oxide superconductors.

In order to understand the origin of high-temperature superconductivity in copper oxides, we must understand the normal state from which it emerges. Here, we examine the evolution of the normal state electronic excitations with temperature and carrier concentration in Bi(2)Sr(2)CaCu(2)O(8+δ) using angle-resolved photoemission. In contrast to conventional superconductors, where there is a single temperature scale T(c) separating the normal from the superconducting state, the high-temperature superconductors exhibit two additional temperature scales.