Anomalous interlayer magnetoresistance in bilayer crystals

The interlayer magnetotransport of a model layered metal is calculated semiclassically. Each layer contains parallel quasi-1D wires but the orientation of wires within each layer is perpendicular to the orientation of wires in adjacent layers. The model has a highly anisotropic amplitude for interlayer electron transfer and is used to illustrate simply the effects that this anisotropy has on the magnetotransport. Strong positive magnetoresistance is calculated for magnetic fields parallel to the current, with the size of magnetoresistance varying inversely with the interlayer hopping amplitude. For fields perpendicular to the current, the magnetoresistance depends qualitatively on the orientation of the field: it scales linearly with the field strength B when the field points toward intersections of 1D Fermi surfaces belonging to individual layers, and scales as p B when the field points between intersections. In a weak field, the resistance is maximum when the field is orientated parallel to the current and minimum when it is perpendicular to the current. Magnetoresistance oscillations are also studied. The implications for more general models of multilayer metals are discussed.