Scaling of the temperature dependent Hall effect in ${\mathrm{La}}_{2\mathrm{-}\mathit{x}}$${\mathrm{Sr}}_{\mathit{x}}$${\mathrm{CuO}}_4$

A new aspect of the charge dynamics in layered metallic cuprates has been discovered in the study of the in-plane Hall coefficient (${\mathit{R}}_{\mathit{H}}$) in ${\mathrm{La}}_{2\mathrm{-}\mathit{x}}$${\mathrm{Sr}}_{\mathit{x}}$${\mathrm{CuO}}_{\mathit{x}}$ over a wide temeprature (4–500 K) and composition (0<x<0.35) range. The strongly temperature dependent ${\mathit{R}}_{\mathit{H}}$, a hallmark of cuprate superconductors, is found to be the low temperature part of a simple functional form f(T/${\mathit{T}}^{\mathrm{*}}$) which becomes constant for T>${\mathit{T}}^{\mathrm{*}}$. This form, followed for x≥0.15, has a characteristic temperature ${\mathit{T}}^{\mathrm{*}}$ which is high at the optimal composition (x=0.15) and decreases with increasing Sr concentration, similar to a temperature scale deduced from magnetic susceptibility.