  We investigate the importance of ambipolar diffusion and Hall currents for
high-resolution comprehensive ('realistic') photospheric simulations. To do so
we extended the radiative magnetohydrodynamics code \emph{MURaM} to use the
generalized Ohm's law under the assumption of local thermodynamic equilibrium.
We present test cases comparing analytical solutions with numerical simulations
for validation of the code. Furthermore, we carried out a number of numerical
experiments to investigate the impact of these neutral-ion effects in the
photosphere. We find that, at the spatial resolutions currently used (5-20 km
per grid point), the Hall currents and ambipolar diffusion begin to become
significant -- with flows of 100 m/s in sunspot light bridges, and changes of a
few percent in the thermodynamic structure of quiet-Sun magnetic features. The
magnitude of the effects is expected to increase rapidly as smaller-scale
variations are resolved by the simulations.
