In-plane resistivity of hole doped cuprates: role of pseudogap and quantum criticality*

Abstract The anomalous behaviour of dc charge dynamics in high-Tc cuprates cannot be explained by the prevalent Boltzman transport theory. In high-Tc cuprates the in-plane and out-of-plane dc resistivities exhibit high anisotropy and unconventional temperature dependence. In this study we have modeled the temperature (T) and hole content (p) dependent in-plane resistivity, ρa (T, p), of pure and Ca doped Y123 (Y(Ca)Ba2Cu3O7- δ ). We have adapted and extended the formalism developed by Naqib et al. (Physica C 471 1598 (2011)) by taking account of two generic features present in all hole doped cuprates, namely - (i) the presence of the pseudogap in the quasiparticle spectrum and (ii) high-T linear behavior, to elucidate non-Fermi liquid ρa (T, p) of Y(Ca)Ba2Cu3O7- δ over a wide range of temperature and hole contents. The characteristic pseudogap energy scale, εg (p), extracted from the analysis of the resistivity data was found to agree well with those found in a variety of earlier studies. Other extracted parameters from the analysis of ρp (T, p) data showed methodical variations with the variation of hole content. Important features of the analysis are briefly discussed.