Design Optimization for X-ray Telescopes

Abstract

The capability of future X-ray telescopes depends on the quality of their Point Spread Function (PSF) and the size of their field of view. Traditional designs, such as Wolter, and Wolter-Schwarzschild telescopes are stigmatic on the optical axis but their PSF degrades rapidly off-axis. At the optimal focal surface, their PSFs can be significantly improved. We present a simple optimization process for Wolter (W), Wolter-Schwarzschild (WS) and Hyperboloid-Hyperboloid (HH) telescopes that substantially improves the off-axis PSF for either narrow or wide field of view applications. In this paper, we will compare the optical performance of conventional and optimized W-, WS-, and HH-telescopes for a wide range of telescope diameters that can be used to build up future x-ray telescopes.