What is "pseudogap"

n. (label en physics) An energy level that has few electronic states associated with it

In condensed matter physics, a pseudogap describes a state where the Fermi surface of a material possesses a partial energy gap, for example, a band structure state where the Fermi surface is gapped only at certain points. The term pseudogap was coined by Nevill Mott in 1968 to indicate a minimum in the density of states at the Fermi level, N(E), resulting from Coulomb repulsion between electrons in the same atom, a band gap in a disordered material or a combination of these. In the modern context pseudogap is a term from the field of high-temperature superconductivity which refers to an energy range (normally near the Fermi level) which has very few states associated with it. This is very similar to a true 'gap', which is an energy range that contains no allowed states. Such gaps open up, for example, when electrons interact with the lattice. The pseudogap phenomenon is observed in a region of the phase diagram generic to cuprate high-temperature superconductors, existing in underdoped specimens at temperatures above the superconducting transition temperature.

Only certain electrons 'see' this gap. The gap, which should be associated with an insulating state, only exists for electrons traveling parallel to the copper-oxygen bonds. Electrons traveling at 45° to this bond can move freely throughout the crystal. The Fermi surface therefore consists of Fermi arcs forming pockets centered on the corner of the Brillouin zone. In the pseudogap phase these arcs gradually disappear as the temperature is lowered until only four points on the diagonals of the Brillouin zone remain ungapped.

On one hand, this could indicate a completely new electronic phase which consumes available states, leaving only a few to pair up and superconduct. On the other hand, the similarity between this partial gap and that in the superconducting state could indicate that the pseudogap results from preformed Cooper pairs.

Recently a pseudogap state has also been reported in strongly disordered conventional superconductors such as TiN , NbN, or granular Aluminum.