Localization properties of harmonic chains with correlated mass and spring disorder: Analytical approach.

We study the localization properties of normal modes in harmonic chains with mass and spring weak disorder. Using a perturbative approach, an expression for the localization length L_{loc} is obtained, which is valid for arbitrary correlations of the disorder (mass disorder correlations, spring disorder correlations, and mass-spring disorder correlations are allowed), and for practically the whole frequency band. In addition, we show how to generate effective mobility edges by the use of disorder with long range self-correlations and cross-correlations. The transport of phonons is also analyzed, showing effective transparent windows that can be manipulated through the disorder correlations even for relative short chain sizes. These results are connected to the problem of heat conduction in the harmonic chain; indeed, we discuss the size scaling of the thermal conductivity from the perturbative expression of L_{loc}. Our results may have applications in modulating thermal transport, particularly in the design of thermal filters or in manufacturing high-thermal-conductivity materials.

Heat conduction in harmonic chains with Lévy-type disorder.

We consider heat transport in a one-dimensional harmonic chain attached at its ends to Langevin heat baths. The harmonic chain has mass impurities where the separation d between any two successive impurities is randomly distributed according to a power-law distribution P(d)∼1/d^{α+1}, being α>0. In the regime where the first moment of the distribution is well defined (1<α<2) the thermal conductivity κ scales with the system size N as κ∼N^{(α-3)/α} for fixed boundary conditions, whereas for free boundary conditions κ∼N^{(α-1)/α} if N≫1. When α=2, the inverse localization length λ scales with the frequency ω as λ∼ω^{2}lnω in the low-frequency regime, due to the logarithmic correction, the size scaling law of the thermal conductivity acquires a nonclosed form. When α>2, the thermal conductivity scales as in the uncorrelated disorder case. The situation α<1 is only analyzed numerically, where λ(ω)∼ω^{2-α}, which leads to the following asymptotic thermal conductivity: κ∼N^{-(α+1)/(2-α)} for fixed boundary conditions and κ∼N^{(1-α)/(2-α)} for free boundary conditions.

Transport through quasi-one-dimensional wires with correlated disorder.

We study transport properties of bulk-disordered quasi-one-dimensional (Q1D) wires paying main attention to the role of long-range correlations embedded into the disorder. First, we show that for stratified disorder for which the disorder is the same for all individual chains forming the Q1D wire, the transport properties can be analytically described provided the disorder is weak. When the disorder in every chain is not the same, however it has the same binary correlator, the general theory is absent. Thus, we consider the case when only one channel is open and all others are closed. For this situation we suggest a semianalytical approach which is quite effective for the description of the total transmission coefficient. Our numerical data confirm the validity of this approach.

Resonant enhancement of Anderson localization: analytical approach.

We study localization properties of the eigenstates and wave transport in a one-dimensional system consisting of a set of barriers and/or wells of fixed thickness and random heights. The inherent peculiarity of the system resulting in the enhanced Anderson localization is the presence of the resonances emerging due to the coherent interaction of the waves reflected from the interfaces between the wells and/or barriers. Our theoretical approach allows to derive the localization length in infinite samples both out of the resonances and close to them. We examine how the transport properties of finite samples can be described in terms of this length. It is shown that the analytical expressions obtained by standard methods for continuous random potentials can be used in our discrete model, in spite of the presence of resonances that cannot be described by conventional theories. All our results are illustrated with numerical data manifesting an excellent agreement with the theory.

Heat conduction in systems with Kolmogorov-Arnold-Moser phase space structure.

We study heat conduction in a billiard channel formed by two sinusoidal walls and the diffusion of particles in the corresponding channel of infinite length; the latter system has an infinite horizon, i.e., a particle can travel an arbitrary distance without colliding with the rippled walls. For small ripple amplitudes, the dynamics of the heat carriers is regular and analytical results for the temperature profile and heat flux are obtained using an effective potential. The study also proposes a formula for the temperature profile that is valid for any ripple amplitude. When the dynamics is regular, ballistic conductance and ballistic diffusion are present. The Poincaré plots of the associated dynamical system (the infinitely long channel) exhibit the generic transition to chaos as ripple amplitude is increased. When no Kolmogorov-Arnold-Moser (KAM) curves are present to forbid the connection of all chaotic regions, the mean square displacement grows asymptotically with time t as tln(t).