Nonreciprocal transmission through a saturable nonlinear asymmetric dimer

We investigate the nonreciprocal diodelike behavior of a dimer with an asymmetric on-site potential and a saturable nonlinearity. The dimer is coupled to linear side chains. The spectra of transmission and the rectifying factor are analytically obtained using a backward iteration of the set of discrete nonlinear Schrödinger equations used to model the wave propagation through the nonlinear dimer. We show that the windows of bistable behavior leading to a pronounced nonreciprocal diodelike transmission become wider and displaced to higher input field intensities as the saturation coefficient increases. Further, saturation of the nonlinear response has opposite impacts on the rectifying action over short- and long-wavelength input signals within the second bistability window. In the first window, the rectifying action is not compromised by the saturation, thus showing that a weak contribution of high-order susceptibilities to the nonlinear response can improve the efficiency of the nonreciprocal transmission. The rectifying action of a dimer with an asymmetric nonlinearity is also discussed.