Graded anharmonic crystals as genuine thermal diodes: Analytical description of rectification and negative differential thermal resistance

摘要

We address the heat flow study starting from microscopic models of matter: wedevelop an approach and investigate some anharmonic graded mass crystals, withweak interparticle interactions. We calculate the thermal conductivity, andshow the existence of rectification and negative differential thermalresistance. Our formalism allows us to understand the mechanism behind thephenomena, and shows that the properties of graded materials make them genuinethermal diodes.