Interlayer coupling and the c-axis quasiparticle transport in high-Tc cuprates

The c-axis quasiparticle conductivity shows different behavior depending on the nature of the interlayer coupling. For coherent coupling with a constant hopping amplitude t⊥, the conductivity at zero frequency and zero temperature σ(0, 0) depends on the direction of the magnetic field, but it does not for angle-dependent hopping t(φ) which removes the contribution of the nodal quasiparticles. For incoherent coupling, the conductivity is also independent of field direction and changes only when paramagnetic effects are included. The conductivity sum rule can be used to determine the admixture of coherent to incoherent coupling. The value of σ(0, 0) can be dominated by t⊥ while at the same time t(φ) dominates the temperature dependence of the superfluid density. PACS numbers: 74.20.-z,74.25.Gz Typeset using REVTEX 1