Temperature rises in the human eye exposed to EM waves in the frequency range 0.6-6 GHz

Abstract

The temperature rises in the human eye for plane wave exposures are investigated in the frequency range between 600 MHz and 6 GHz, which covers the hot spot frequency range. As a first step, the specific absorption rates (SARs) are calculated with the use of the finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method and the mechanism of hot-spot formation is discussed. Then the temperature rises in the human eye are calculated by using Pennes' bioheat equation. In addition, the dependence of SARs and temperature rises on the electromagnetic (EM) wave polarization and the eye dimension is discussed. Furthermore, the temperature rises calculated are compared with the values found in the literature pertaining to microwave-induced cataract formation. Numerical results show that hot spots appear in a certain frequency range and that the location and number of hot spots depend on the frequencies of the incident wave. In particular, the averaged SARs and the temperature rise are found to depend obviously on the polarization of the EM wave. Additionally, the deviations in the SAR and the temperature rise caused by the eye size are found to be within 10%. Furthermore, the maximum temperature rise due to the incident EM power density of 5.0 mW/cm/sup 2/, which is the maximum permissible exposure limit for controlled environments, is found to be 0.30/spl deg/C at 6.0 GHz. This value is small but not negligible, as compared with the threshold temperature rise 3.0/spl deg/C for cataract formation.