Using radiation to form a virtual wall for gases in a vacuum: approaches to conducting experiments

Imagine the open hearth of a furnace.
We toss a piece of dry ice into this furnace.
The heat of the furnace will cause the dry ice to sublimate, with the intensity of the effect increasing as it gets closer.
What shape and velocity must the piece of dry ice have so that, given a specific mass and furnace temperature, it returns to its starting point?
This post discusses approaches to the experimens, including the process used in research regarding the completeness of the Navier-Stokes equations.