High-efficiency photonic furnaces for metal production

A method for producing a metal product from a precursor material, the method comprising:

• providing a photonic furnace comprising a reaction chamber, a precursor material inlet, and a product outlet;
• introducing to the precursor material inlet, one or more precursor materials;
• heating within less than about 5 seconds at least one of the one or more precursor materials to a reaction temperature associated with the at least one of the one or more precursor materials using an interaction of a light beam of one or more light sources of the photonic furnace with the at least one of the one or more precursor materials, wherein the light beam comprises light produced by one or more laser(s) or electroluminescent light emitting diode(s) and the reaction temperature is at least about 500° C.;
• reacting the one or more precursor materials to yield the metal product;
• and retrieving the metal product from the product outlet of the photonic furnace.