Anomalous c-axis charge dynamics in copper oxide materials

Within the t-J model, the c-axis charge dynamics of the copper oxide materi als in the underdoped and optimally doped regimes is studied by considering the incoherent interlayer hopping. It is shown that the c-axis charge dyna mics is mainly governed by the scattering from the in-plane fluctuation. In the optimally doped regime, the c-axis resistivity is linear in temperatur es, and shows the metalliclike behavior for all temperatures, while the c-a xis resistivity in the underdoped regime is characterized by a crossover fr om the high temperature metalliclike behavior to the low temperature semico nductinglike behavior, which is consistent with experiments and numerical s imulations. [S0163-1829(99)11733-8].