  The electronic structure of Bi2Sr2-xRxCuOy(R=La, Eu) near the (pi,0) point of
the first Brillouin zone was studied by means of angle-resolved photoemission
spectroscopy (ARPES). The temperature T* above which the pseudogap structure in
the ARPES spectrum disappears was found to have an R dependence that is
opposite to that ofthe superconducting transition temperature Tc. This
indicates that the pseudogap state is competing with high-Tc superconductivity,
and the large Tc suppression observed with increasing the out-of-plane disorder
is due to the stabilization of the pseudogap state.
