# Antiferromagnetism-superconductivity competition in electron-doped cuprates triggered by oxygen reduction

## TL;DR

This study reveals that oxygen reduction in electron-doped cuprates mainly removes an anisotropic gap around the Fermi surface, affecting antiferromagnetism and superconductivity competition, without significantly changing band filling.

## Contribution

It demonstrates that oxygen reduction primarily removes an anisotropic leading edge gap, challenging previous beliefs about its effects on band parameters.

## Key findings

- Oxygen reduction does not significantly alter band filling or parameters.
- It removes an anisotropic leading edge gap around the Fermi surface.
- Nodal gap is linked to antiferromagnetic order, origin of antinodal gap remains unclear.

## Abstract

We have performed a systematic angle-resolved photoemission study of as-grown and oxygen-reduced Pr$_{2-x}$Ce$_x$CuO$_4$ and Pr$_{1-x}$LaCe$_{x}$CuO$_4$ electron-doped cuprates. In contrast to the common belief, neither the band filling nor the band parameters are significantly affected by the oxygen reduction process. Instead, we show that the main electronic role of the reduction process is to remove an anisotropic leading edge gap around the Fermi surface. While the nodal leading edge gap is induced by long-range antiferomagnetic order, the origin of the antinodal one remains unclear.