Efficiency and Mechanism of Heat Flux Rectification with Non-Reciprocal Surface Waves in Weyl-Semi-Metals

TL;DR

This paper revises the understanding of heat flux rectification in Weyl semimetals, showing that larger rectification ratios are achievable through non-reciprocal surface modes, making these materials promising for thermal management applications.

Contribution

It corrects previous rectification ratio estimates and identifies conditions for significantly enhanced heat flux rectification in Weyl semimetals.

Findings

Rectification ratio revised from 2673 to 1502.

Maximum rectification ratios up to 15000 identified.

Range of parameters for strong backward and forward rectification discovered.

Abstract

We reinvestigate the mechanism of near-field heat transfer rectification between two Weyl semimetal nanoparticles and a planar Weyl semimetal substrate via the coupling to non-reciprocal surface modes. We first show that the previously predicted rectification ratio of 2673 is incorrect and should rather be 1502. Furthermore we show that depending on the distance between the nanoparticles there can be a much more efficient heat flux rectification with ratios of about 6000. Furthermore, we identify a previously overlooked range of forward rectification and a range of strong backward rectification with rectification ratios larger than 8000 for relatively small Weyl node separations. We investigate the mechanism behind this large heat flux rectification and study its sensitivity with respect to certain material parameters and temperature showing that even larger rectification ratios up to 15000 are possible highlighting that certain Weyl semimetals are strong candidates for highly efficient heat flux rectification.