Superconducting Gap, Pseudogap and Their Relationship Investigated by Break-junction Tunneling Spectroscopy on Bi₂Sr₂CaCu₂O₈₊δ Single Crystals

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Temperature and doping dependent tunneling spectroscopy on Bi₂Sr₂CaCu₂O₈₊δ single crystals has been investigated by using break-junction technique. The results provide direct evidence that the pseudogap persists into heavily overdoped regime, possibly in whole doping range of the superconducting phase. The gap value determined from the peak-to-peak of the conductance, Δₚ₋ₚ, exhibits a jump-like increase as T is raised across the critical temperature. The magnitude of the jump, the pseudogap opening temperature and superconducting gap decrease with raising doping. The Δₚ₋ₚ below Tc can be naturally treated as the vector sum of two competing orders: a BCS-like superconducting gap and a residual pseudogap.