Modeling and numerical simulations of microwave-induced ionic transport

A numerical model was developed to simulate and study microwave-induced transport in ionic solids. The model is based on continuum equations, is very general, and could be applied to many materials. The assumptions, boundary conditions, initial conditions, and numerical techniques used in the model are described. Results are presented from a study of microwave driven defect transport in sodium chloride. Static, high-frequency, and quasistatic results show that ponderomotive rectification of vacancy fluxes will act to deplete the vacancies in a near-surface region and will continue to pull vacancies to the surface through diffusion kinetics. The ponderomotive driving force for this transport is characterized over a wide range of variable space. The magnitude of the driving force falls right in the range such that it can explain why microwave-enhanced mass transport is observed in some experimental cases but not in others.