Discrimination between the superconducting gap and the pseudo-gap in Bi2212 from intrinsic tunneling spectroscopy in magnetic field

Abstract

Intrinsic tunneling spectroscopy in high magnetic field ($H$) is used for a direct test of superconducting features in a quasiparticle density of states of high-$T_c$ superconductors. We were able to distinguish with a great clarity two co-existing gaps: (i) the superconducting gap, which closes as $H \to H_{c2}(T)$ and $T\to T_c(H)$, and (ii) the $c$-axis pseudo-gap, which does not change neither with $H$, nor $T$. Strikingly different magnetic field dependencies, together with previously observed different temperature dependencies of the two gaps ~\cite{Krasnov}, speak against the superconducting origin of the pseudo-gap.