  Electronic Raman scattering from high- and low-energy excitations was studied
as a function of temperature, extent of hole doping, and energy of the incident
photons in Bi_2Sr_2CaCu_2O_{8 \pm \delta} superconductors. For underdoped
superconductors, short range antiferromagnetic (AF) correlations were found to
persist with hole doping, and doped single holes were found to be incoherent in
the AF environment. Above the superconducting (SC) transition temperature T_c,
the system exhibits a sharp Raman resonance of B_{1g} symmetry and energy of 75
meV and a pseudogap for electron-hole excitations below 75 meV, a manifestation
of a partially coherent state forming from doped incoherent quasi particles.
The occupancy of the coherent state increases with cooling until phase ordering
at T_c produces a global SC state.
