Crossover from coherent to incoherent electronic excitations in the normal state of Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8

Angle resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) and resistivity measurements are used to explore the overdoped region of the high temperature superconductor Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+delta. We find evidence for a new crossover line in the phase diagram between a coherent metal phase for lower temperatures and higher doping, and an incoherent metal phase for higher temperatures and lower doping. The former is characterized by two well-defined spectral peaks in ARPES due to coherent bilayer splitting and superlinear behavior in the resistivity, whereas the latter is characterized by a single broad spectral feature in ARPES and a linear temperature dependence of the resistivity.