“…In the normal state, a strong anisotropy is present: the resistance in the c-axis direction is ≈100 times larger than in the the b-axis direction just above the superconducting transition, in agreement with earlier reports on untwinned YBCO single crystals [29,30]. The behavior of the resistance with the temperature is also anisotropic: along the b axis, the resistance shows a linear temperature dependence from 300 K down to the superconducting transition, which is typical of optimally doped films [31]; along the c axis, the range of linearity decreases, and a downward bending of the resistance with the temperature, resembling that of an underdoped YBCO c-axis film, develops at low temperatures. Finally, we have recorded a critical temperature T C ≈ 88 K along both the YBCO in-plane directions, calculated as the temperature where the derivative dR/dT is maximum, and a transition broadening T C ≈ 3 K.…”