DESIGN PARAMETERS FOR A 2-MIRROR TELESCOPE FOR STRAY-LIGHT SENSITIVE INFRARED APPLICATIONS

Established telescope designs used in the infrared-wavelength region a re not responsive to the specific imaging requirements of this wavelen gth interval. A Gregorian telescope using off-axis mirror segments, an d a real focus for the cold stop placement is proposed for the detecti on of faint IR sources. Exact ray trace equations are given for a gene ral ray propagating through two coupled confocal spheroids. Relationsh ips between the spheroid mirror parameters and object, and image dista nces are presented in a graphical form to facilitate the first order t elescope design.