The Department of Physics at the University of Warwick in Coventry, England, increased its crystal-growth capabilities with the installation of a multi-zone Bridgman furnace from Carbolite Gero.

Close collaboration between the company and university, which is at the forefront of research into the properties of new and exotic materials, enabled the furnace to be integrated with gas, chilled-water, blower and control systems already in place for use with a previous unit. The Carbolite Gero Bridgman unit has a maximum temperature of 1350°C (2462°F), which is considerably higher than the previous equipment in the laboratory and allows the department to make further advances in its work on topological insulators used in the energy storage industry. The furnace incorporates a 1,200-mm-long (47-inch-long) vertical work tube with three 250-mm (10-inch) heating zones, allowing specific temperature gradients to be created.

The university physics department has been producing single crystals of a very wide range of materials for over 20 years, meeting in-house and external demand for specimens for studying the physics of condensed matter within U.K. laboratories. The Warwick team working in this field uses a variety of equipment to produce high-quality specimens of oxides, selenides, silicides, borides, inter-metallics and related materials.