A spin-boson thermal rectifier

TL;DR

This paper investigates heat transfer rectification in nanodevices using a spin-boson model, providing analytical solutions for different interaction regimes and demonstrating asymmetric heat conduction due to structural asymmetry.

Contribution

It introduces two analytical models of a spin-boson nanojunction, revealing rectification effects in heat transfer with different system-bath interaction strengths.

Findings

Both models exhibit heat conduction rectification with asymmetric couplings.

Analytical solutions are derived for both linear separable and non-separable models.

Structural asymmetry leads to directional heat transfer in the studied nanojunctions.

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 non-separable model suitable for a stronger system-bath interaction. Both models show asymmetric (rectifying) heat conduction when the couplings to the heat reservoirs are different.