Suppression of the antiferromagnetic pseudogap in the electron-doped high-temperature superconductor by protect annealing.

ABSTRACT

In the hole-doped cuprates, a small number of carriers suppresses antiferromagnetism and induces superconductivity. In the electron-doped cuprates, on the other hand, superconductivity appears only in a narrow window of high-doped Ce concentration after reduction annealing, and strong antiferromagnetic correlation persists in the superconducting phase. Recently, Pr(1.3-x)La0.7Ce(x)CuO4 (PLCCO) bulk single crystals annealed by a protect annealing method showed a high critical temperature of around 27 K for small Ce content down to 0.05. Here, by angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy measurements of PLCCO crystals, we observed a sharp quasi-particle peak on the entire Fermi surface without signature of an antiferromagnetic pseudogap unlike all the previous work, indicating a dramatic reduction of antiferromagnetic correlation length and/or of magnetic moments. The superconducting state was found to extend over a wide electron concentration range. The present results fundamentally challenge the long-standing picture on the electronic structure in the electron-doped regime.