Spin-Boson Thermal Rectifier

Abstract

Rectification of heat transfer in nanodevices can be realized by combining the system inherent anharmonicity with structural asymmetry. We analyze this phenomenon within the simplest anharmonic system—a spin-boson nanojunction model. We consider two variants of the model that yield, for the first time, analytical solutions: a linear separable model in which the heat reservoirs contribute additively, and a nonseparable model suitable for a stronger system-bath interaction. Both models show asymmetric (rectifying) heat conduction when the couplings to the heat reservoirs are different.