Laser-Excited Ultrahigh-Resolution Photoemission Spectroscopy Of Naxcoo2 Center Dot Yh(2)O: Evidence For Pseudogap Formation

We have studied the temperature (T)-dependent electronic structure near the Fermi level of the layered cobaltate superconductor, Na0.35CoO2.1.3H(2)O, and related materials, using laser-excited ultrahigh-resolution photoemission spectroscopy. We observe the formation of a pseudogap (PG) with an energy scale of similar to20 meV in Na0.35CoO2.1.3H(2)O and Na0.35CoO2.0.7H(2)O, which is clearly absent in Na0.7CoO2. The energy scale of the PG is larger than the expected value for the superconducting gap, suggesting an additional competing order parameter at low T. We discuss implications of the PG in relation to available transport and magnetic susceptibility results.