Question

How does a solar concentrator help in attaining higher temperatures of the order of 180°C-200°C in a solar cooker?

Answer 1

sunlight is concentrated as heat the Second Law of Thermodynamics puts the maximum temperature that can be achieved by concentrating sunlight as the temperature of the Sun's photosphere, 5800 K. If sunlight is concentrated via work there is in principle no limit (except perhaps the Planck temperature 10^32 K). Thunderstorms concentrate solar energy (albeit inefficiently) via work rather than heat and typically generate 30000 K lightning bolts (the strongest lightning bolts may be even hotter). The Sun's corona is heated via work by the Sun's 5800 K photosphere to a few million K. The LHC ultimately operates on solar energy,