Examination of the c-axis resistivity of Bi2Sr2-xLaxCuO6+δ in magnetic fields up to 58 T -: art. no. 224521

We measure the magnetic-field dependence of the c-axis resistivity, rho(c)(H), in a series of Bi2Sr2-xLaxCuO6+delta (BSLCO) single crystals for a wide range of doping using pulsed magnetic fields up to 58 T. The behavior of rho(c)(H) is examined in light of the recent determination of the upper critical field H-c2 for this material using Nernst effect measurements. We find that the peak in rho(c)(H) shows up at a field H-p that is much lower than H-c2 and there is no discernable feature in rho(c)(H) at H-c2. Intriguingly, H-p shows a doping dependence similar to that of T-c, and there is an approximate relation k(B)T(c)similar or equal to1/2gmu(B)H(p). Moreover, we show that the data for the lowest-T-c sample can be used to estimate the pseudogap closing field H-pg, but the method to estimate H-pg proposed by Shibauchi [Phys. Rev. Lett. 86, 5763 (2001)] must be modified to apply to the BSLCO system.