Reflective Schmidt-Cassegrain system for large-aperture telescopes.

A reflective modification of the Schmidt-Cassegrain system was built and tested. Ultraviolet (UV) and soft x-ray applications are discussed. The system consists of a planoid mirror with an aspheric profile and prime concave and secondary convex spherical mirrors. Spherical aberration in a wide field of view and astigmatism are compensated by the aspheric profile of the planoid. The main parameters of the scheme are as follows: an entrance aperture of 180 mm, a focal ratio F/3.2, an angular resolution better than 3'' (corresponding to a pixel size of a back-side illuminated CCD), a field of view of ±1.5° (2ω=3°) and a flat image field with a diameter of 30.4 mm. Due to the absence of chromatic aberrations and wide field of view, the scheme is of considerable interest for hyperspectral instruments. In particular, the operating range of the instruments can be expanded into vacuum UV and UV regions.