A method and apparatus irradiates a surface with at least one light beam emitted from an emission surface of an optical element. The at least one light beam has a cross-sectional area greater than about 2 cm2, and a time-averaged irradiance in a range of about 10 mW/cm2 to about 10 W/cm2 across the cross-sectional area. The at least one light beam can include a plurality of pulses having a temporal pulsewidth in a range between about 0.1 millisecond and about 150 seconds, and having a time-averaged irradiance in a range between about 1 mW/cm2 and about 100 W/cm2.
