Electronic structure of CuO2 planes: From insulator to superconductor

Using angle-resolved photoemission and linearly polarized synchrotron radiation, we measured the electronic band structure of electronic states of CuO2 plane materials ranging from insulators (Sr2CuO2Cl2) to overdoped superconductors (Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+x). We report three results: (i) The CuO2 containing insulator possesses a spin-density-wave (SDW) ground state; (ii) there are precursors of the SDW state for underdoped Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+1; (iii) an extended saddle-point-type van Hove singularity is neither a necessary nor a sufficient condition for a high superconducting transition temperature, Tc.