Related papers: Proto-Model of an Infrared Wide-Field Off-Axis Tel…
Off-axis telescopes with unobstructed pupils offer great advantages in terms of emissivity, throughput, and diffractionlimited energy concentration. For most telescope designs, implementation of an off-axis configuration imposes enormous…
We propose an inverse method to design two-dimensional freeform imaging systems. We present the mathematical model to design a parallel-to-point double-reflector imaging system using inverse methods from nonimaging optics. We impose an…
X-ray mirrors are usually built in the Wolter I (paraboloid-hyperboloid) configuration. This design exhibits no spherical aberration on-axis but suffers from field curvature, coma and astigmatism, therefore the angular resolution degrades…
Focusing mirrors for X-ray telescopes in grazing incidence, introduced in the 70s, are characterized in terms of their performance by their imaging quality and effective area, which in turn determines their sensitivity. Even though the…
Schwarzschild-type aplanatic telescopes with two aspheric mirrors, configured to correct spherical and coma aberrations, are considered for application in gamma-ray astronomy utilizing the ground-based atmospheric Cherenkov technique. We…
High throughput optical system is defined to possess the features of both large field of view (FOV) and high resolution. However, it is full of challenge to design such a telescope with the two conflicting specifications at the same time.…
Two versions of a fast, purely reflective Paul-Baker type telescope are discussed, each with an 8.4-m aperture, 3 deg diameter flat field and f/1.25 focal ratio. The first version is based on a common, even asphere type of surface with zero…
Optical modules for X-ray telescopes comprise several double-reflection mirrors operating in grazing incidence. The concentration power of an optical module, which determines primarily the telescope's sensitivity, is in general expressed by…
Astronomical imaging with micro-arcsecond ($\mu$as) angular resolution could enable breakthrough scientific discoveries. Previously-proposed $\mu$as X-ray imager designs have been interferometers with limited effective collecting area. Here…
Two all-spherical catadioptric optical systems with a Mangin mirror are described. The design A (aperture 500 mm, f/2.0) has flat field of view of 7 deg in diameter; the design B (aperture 1000 mm, f/1.7) has 10-deg flat field. Both designs…
Traditional glass-based optics are typically optimized for narrow spectral bands, such as the visible (400-700nm) or shortwave infrared (1000-1800nm). While the emergence of VIS-SWIR sensors (400-1700nm) offers transformative potential,…
Rather than using an adaptive optics (AO) system to correct a telescope s entire pupil, it can instead be used to more finely correct a smaller sub-aperture. Indeed, existing AO systems can be used to correct a sub-aperture 1/3 to 1/2 the…
Technological advances will allow the placement of many Terahertz detectors at the focal plane of a single telescope. For a telescope of a given diameter and wavelength of operation, there is a limit to the number of usable detectors…
Grazing incidence mirrors for X-ray astronomy are usually designed in the parabola-hyperbola (Wolter I) configuration. This design allows for optimal images on-axis, which however degrade rapidly with the off-axis angle. Mirror surfaces…
We present an inverse method for designing a three-dimensional imaging system comprising of freeform optical surfaces. We impose an imaging condition on the optical map and combine it with the law of conservation of energy to conclude that…
We have developed a method to measure the mirror reflectivity of telescopes. While it is relatively easy to measure the local reflectivity of the mirror material, it is not so straightforward to measure the amount of light that it focuses…
We present the development of Linear Astigmatism Free - Three Mirror System (LAF-TMS). This is a prototype of an off-axis telescope that enables very wide field of view (FoV) infrared satellites that can observe Paschen-$\alpha$ emission,…
Reflective imaging systems form an important part of photonic devices such as spectrometers, telescopes, augmented and virtual reality headsets or lithography platforms. Reflective optics provide unparalleled spectral performance and can be…
Ground-based millimeter and sub-millimeter telescopes are attempting to image the sky with ever-larger cryogenically-cooled bolometer arrays, but face challenges in mitigating the infrared loading accompanying large apertures. Absorptive…
Curved reflective mirrors play an indispensable role in widely-employed Cassegrain-type optics, which consequently are inevitably bulky, and thus neither integratable nor well extendable. Through substituting geometric phase based…