Normal state c-axis resistivity of high T_c cuprate superconductors

Abstract

It is shown that a strong intraplanar incoherent scattering can effectively block the interplanar coherent tunneling between the weakly coupled planes of the highly anisotropic but clean (intrinsic) materials such as the optimally doped high-T_c layered cuprate superconductors. The calculated normal-state C-axis resistivity \rho_c(T) then follows the metal-like temperature dependence of the ab-plane resistivity \rho_{ab}(T) at high temperatures. At low enough temperatures, however, \rho_c(T) exhibits a non-metal like upturn even as \rho_{ab}(T) remains metallic. Moreover, in the metallic regime, \rho_c(T) is not limited by the maximum metallic resistivity of Mott-Ioffe-Regel. This correlation between the intrinsic \rho_c(T) and \rho_{ab}(T) is observed in the normal state of the high-T_c stoichiometric cuprates.