Nature of the high-binding-energy dip in the low-temperature photoemission spectra of Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+δ

Abstract
At the transition to superconductivity, an anomalous high-binding-energy (≊-90 meV) dip appears in the low-temperature photoemission spectra taken along the Γ-M¯ high-symmetry direction of Bi2 Sr2 CaCu2 O8+δ. This paper details experiments which further characterize the energy and k-space dependence of this dip structure. The dip occurs over a wide portion of the Γ-M¯ zone diagonal (110), yet shows minimal energy dispersion. In the spectra taken along the Γ-X zone edge (100), the dip is very weak or not present. We show that these results imply that the dip is not an artifact dependent on the experiment or special features of the band structure and therefore is an intrinsic feature of the superconducting state of Bi2 Sr2 CaCu2 O8+δ. The behavior of the normal-state bands along Γ-M¯ in relation to the local-density-approximation prediction of a Bi-O-based electron ‘‘pocket’’ is also discussed, with our data explained most naturally if the Bi-O band remains above the Fermi level for all k.