Imaging performance of a normal incidence x-ray telescope measured at 0.18 kev

Normal incidence offers several advantages over the traditional grazing incidence designs of X-ray optics, but an actual normal incidence device had never previously been made. We describe the results of our measurements of the imaging performance of a normal incidence soft X-ray telescope at BKa (0.183 keV, 67.6). The performance is quite good, and indicates that it is practical to consider normal incidence optics in the design of soft X-ray imaging systems. We describe our planned future tests and a possible astronomical application. © 1982 SPIE.