English

A spin-boson thermal rectifier

Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics 2009-11-10 v1

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.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.cond-mat/0405472,
  title  = {A spin-boson thermal rectifier},
  author = {Dvira Segal and Abraham Nitzan},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:cond-mat/0405472},
  year   = {2009}
}

Comments

5 pages, 3 figures, RevTeX4