Optimal grazing incidence optics and its application to wide-field X-ray imaging

A class of high-resolution, efficient, and wide-field grazing incidence optics is discussed. Optical designs for searching efficiently for distant X-ray clusters are developed. It is shown that a rather general procedure exists for the design of an optical mission if well-defined scientific goals can be provided. Clusters of galaxies with an angular diameter of about 5 arcsec over a field of about 1 deg are resolved so that a comprehensive deep search is possible with a payload of 1/10 the linear dimensions of AXAF. By dropping the requirement for perfect on-axis imagery, searching within a suitably general class of telescope design, and optimizing a quantity directly related to the scientific requirement, it is shown that satisfactory designs do exist. The resulting telescope is shown to be no more difficult to fabricate than existing mirrors, and it can be nested.