Asymmetric Properties of Heat Conduction in a One-Dimensional Frenkel-Kontorova Model

In this Letter, we show numerically that the rectifying effect of heat flux in a one-dimensional two-segment Frenkel-Kontorova chain demonstrated in recent literature is merely available under the limit of the weak coupling between the two constituent segments. Surprisingly, the rectifying effect will be reversed when the properties of the interface and the system size change. The two types of asymmetric heat conduction are dominated by different mechanisms, which are all induced by the nonlinearity. We further discuss the possibility of the experimental realization of thermal diode or rectifier devices.