An apparatus and method for rapidly and uniformly heating a workpiece (12) includes a plurality of walls defining a first chamber (20), a first source of radiation (44) for producing incident radiation on a first energy transfer surface of the workpiece (19), a holder for holding the workpiece in a workpiece plane in the chamber and a radiation absorbing surface on at least one wall of the chamber (22, 24, 26). The holder has an energy transfer surface, the energy surfaces of the holder and of the workpiece reflecting and emitting radiation in the chamber and the radiation absorbing surface absorbing non-incident radiation reflected and emitted from the energy transfer surfaces.