What is the highest temperature acheived by means of solar concentration?

Question

What is the highest temperature acheived by means of solar concentration?

Answer 1

In principle, you could get 5600 K.  In practice, because of atmospheric absorption and imperfect lenses, you can't get anywhere near that hot -- but you can still get enough heat to produce power, if you are willing to invest enough money.

Answer 2

The solar tower at Sandia gets extremely hot. They use it to test ablative materials for re-entry vehicles.

Answer 3

I don't think there is any upper limit. If you think you are at a limit, just add another mirror and the temperature will be higher.

lots of articles around, here is part of one:

Solar furnaces: concentrating 100,000 suns. (new solar power developments)

Mechanical Engineering-CIME,  February, 1991  by Rosen, Jerome in partnership with Optical solar concentrators, also called solar furnaces, focus the light of the sun onto a small target area. The rapid heating generated by this light--up to 1 million degrees per second--can be used to supply power for lasers to destroy toxic chemicals, grow thin-film crystals, or work metals into tough corrosion-resistant alloys.

In a series of experiments conducted in January 1990, a University of Chicago researcher under the direction of physics professor Roland Winston achieved a record concentration of 84,000 suns,