Hall angle in high-Tc cuprates: Anomalous temperature dependence and anisotropic scattering

Abstract

The anisotropy of the scattering rates, 1/τtr α T and 1/τH α T², implied effectively by the anomalous temperature dependence of the normal-state in-plane Hall angle, cotΘH α T² observed in the high-Tc layered cuprates is reasoned out to be a natural consequence of the semiclassical Boltzmann transport equation with crossed electric (E) and magnetic (H) fields. It is argued that while the scattering rate 1/τtr, describes the longitudinal relaxation of the dipolar E-perturbations to the circular zero-field reference distribution function which is known to correspond to a non-Fermi liquid with 1/τtr α T, the scattering rate 1/τH, describes the transverse relaxation of the H-perturbations to the E-induced shifted reference distribution which is Fermi-liquid-like giving1/τH α T². Incorporation of impurity scattering gives cotΘH = aT² + b in agreement with the observed temperature dependence.