Asymmetric heat conduction in nonlinear lattices

In this Letter, we conduct an extensive study of the two-segment Frenkel-Kontorova model. We show that the rectification effect of the heat flux reported in recent literature is possible only in the weak interfacial coupling limit. The rectification effect will be reversed when the properties of the interface and the system size change. These two types of asymmetric heat conduction are governed by different mechanisms though both are induced by nonlinearity. An intuitive physical picture is proposed to interpret the reversal of the rectification effect. Since asymmetric heat conduction depends critically on the properties of the interface and the system size, it is probably not an easy task to fabricate a thermal rectifier or thermal diode in practice.