Microwave ponderomotive forces in solid-state ionic plasmas

Numerous observations have been reported in the literature of enhanced mass transport and solid-state reaction rates during microwave heating of a variety of ceramic, glass, and polymer materials. An explanation for these controversial observations has eluded researchers for over a decade. This paper describes a series of recent experimental and theoretical investigations that provide an explanation for these intriguing observations in terms of ponderomotive forces acting on mobile ionic species. The ponderomotive phenomenon, like its conventional-plasma analog, can be described in the continuum model limit by combining the continuity, Poisson's, and transport equations. However, the solid-state plasma version typically manifests as a result of gradients in mobile charge mobility (e.g., near physical surfaces or interfaces), whereas the conventional plasma ponderomotive transport is typically a consequence of gradients in the radiation field intensity. Both cases can be captured in a single, general, mathematical articulation developed in terms of the mobile particle fluxes. (C) 1998 American Institute of Physics.