Non-Reciprocal Thermal Material by Spatio-Temporal Modulation

The thermal properties of a material with a spatio-temporal modulation in both the thermal conductivity and the mass density are studied. The special configuration studied here consists of a modulation in a wave-like fashion. It is found that these materials behaves, in an effective way, as materials with an internal convection-like term that provides them of non-reciprocal properties, in the sense that the flow of heat has different properties when it propagates in the same direction or in the opposite one to the modulation of the parameters. An effective medium description is presented which accurately describes the modulated material, and numerical simulations supports both the non-reciprocal properties and the effective medium description. It is found that these materials are promising candidates for the design of thermal diodes and other advanced devices for the control of the heat flow at all scales.