Destroying coherence in high temperature superconductors with current flow

The loss of single-particle coherence going from the superconducting state to the normal state in underdoped cuprates is a dramatic effect that has yet to be understood. Here, we address this issue by performing angle resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) measurements in the presence of a transport current. We find that the loss of coherence is associated with the development of an onset in the resistance, in that well before the midpoint of the transition is reached, the sharp peaks in the ARPES spectra are completely suppressed. Since the resistance onset is a signature of phase fluctuations, this implies that the loss of single-particle coherence is connected with the loss of long-range phase coherence.