Next-generation telescopes with curved focal surface for ultralow surface brightness surveys

In spite of major advances in both ground- and space-based instrumentation, the ultralow surface brightness Universe (ULSB) still remains a largely unexplored volume in observational parameter space. ULSB observations provide unique constraints on a wide variety of objects, from the Zodiacal light all the way to the optical cosmological background radiation, through dust cirri, mass-loss shells in giant stars, LSB galaxies and the intracluster light. These surface brightness levels (>28–29 mag arcsec−2) are observed by maximizing the efficiency of the surveys and minimizing or removing the systematics arising in the measurement of surface brightness. Based on full-system photon Monte Carlo simulations, we present here the performance of a ground-based telescope aimed at carrying out ULSB observations, with a curved focal surface design. Its off-axis optical design maximizes the field of view while minimizing the focal ratio. No lenses are used, as their multiple internal scatterings increase the wings of the point spread function (PSF), and the usual requirement of a flat focal plane is relaxed through the use of curved CCD detectors. The telescope has only one unavoidable single refractive surface, the cryostat window, and yet it delivers a PSF with ultracompact wings, which allows the detection, for a given exposure time, of surface brightness levels nearly three orders of magnitude fainter than any other current telescope.