We present an analytical study of the heat conduction in a quantum harmonic chain of oscillators with alternate particle masses. We find that a thermal-insulating effect already observed in some classical models consisting of chains with alternate masses also holds in the quantum version of the one-dimensional harmonic model with thermal reservoirs at the boundaries. Namely, we show that if the heat conduction is to be avoided, then alternating small and large masses in a wire is more effective than having all of the masses equally large. The presence of a similar effect in different models indicates that the phenomenon may be rather general, with possible applications in the heat-flow control.

• Received 22 June 2012

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.86.032105