The short vertical furnace was made in ITME to obtain high Q-factor Whispering Gallery Mode microresonators in the form of microspheres doped by plasmonic nanoparticles and quantum dots. We built a furnace made from a Quartz tube with a resistance heater in the middle of the furnace. On the top of the furnace there is an injection system consisting of metal fittings and a syringe. For obtaining good temperature stability we use a Eurotherm temperature controller. This furnace can work at high temperatures (around 1050°C). Thereby we can fabricate microspheres from many glasses, both doped and non-doped. Nitrogen gas is constantly pumped into the furnace which causes insulation from the steam in the air and pollution and provides very clean and smooth microsphere surfaces. The microresonators manufactured in our system are currently being considered for use in biosensing for detection and differentiating between exosomes (intracellular vesicles which can be found in any body fluid) from cancerous and healthy cells. The aim is to develop a method for fast, early stage and non-invasive cancer detection.

vertical-furnace-for-high-q-factor-whispering-gallery-mode-microresonators