Existence of Pseudogap at the Transition Temperature of an Electron-Doped Copper–Oxide Superconductor

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We present the scanning tunnelling spectroscopy (STS) studies of the energy gap (Δ) at the Fermi surface of electron-doped high-temperature (high-Tc) cuprate superconductor Pr0.88LaCe0.12CuO4−δ, which is commonly known as PLCCO. We found that the energy gap does not vanish at the transition temperature (Tc). Moreover, it was observed that gap-like features are present at some locations of the sample at temperatures above Tc. The energy gap with magnitude is found consistent with d-wave symmetry. We also found the value of the ratio 2Δ/KBTc higher than 7, which puts electron-doped cuprates in strong coupling regime.