Interlayer magnetoresistance in an anisotropic pseudogap state

The interlayer magnetoresistance of a quasi-two-dimensional layered metal with a d-wave pseudogap is calculated semiclassically. An expression for the interlayer resistivity as a function of the strength and direction of the magnetic field, the magnitude of the pseudogap, temperature, and scattering rate is obtained. We find that the pseudogap, by introducing low-energy nodal quasiparticle contours, smooths the dependence on field direction in a manner characteristic of its anisotropy. We thus propose that interlayer resistance measurements under a strong field of variable orientation can be used to fully characterize an anisotropic pseudogap. The general result is applied to the case of a magnetic field parallel to the conducting layers using a model band structure appropriate for overdoped T$\ell$2201.