03 Aug '19 10:48>4 edits
Ignoring manufacturing and installation costs and assuming far future technology will be able to cost-effectively position every atom of either a telescope mirror or a telescope lens with extreme precision and within an arbitrarily tiny fraction of a width of an atom and in exactly the correct position, for a given aperture diameter of a telescope, would the 'best' design of a telescope (only for astronomy) ONLY in terms of quality of images it obtains, necessarily be of a 'all-mirror' design, by which I mean it uses only curved mirrors and no lenses?
I know such lensless 'pure mirror' telescopes have already been made (example; http://www.astrofox.nl/contents/en-uk/d33.html )
and I know of various types of optical distortions that lenses can give which mirrors don't but don't know of any of the reverse. So, ignoring costs and assuming maximum possible accuracy of fabrication, and for a given diameter of mirror/lens, are there any types of optical distortions that mirrors have but lenses don't or are there any disadvantages mirrors have over lenses?
I am trying to work out whether the ultimate far future telescope design only for astronomy would necessarily be a lensless all-mirror one or whether there would still some niche for lenses for far future optical telescopes for astronomy.
I know such lensless 'pure mirror' telescopes have already been made (example; http://www.astrofox.nl/contents/en-uk/d33.html )
and I know of various types of optical distortions that lenses can give which mirrors don't but don't know of any of the reverse. So, ignoring costs and assuming maximum possible accuracy of fabrication, and for a given diameter of mirror/lens, are there any types of optical distortions that mirrors have but lenses don't or are there any disadvantages mirrors have over lenses?
I am trying to work out whether the ultimate far future telescope design only for astronomy would necessarily be a lensless all-mirror one or whether there would still some niche for lenses for far future optical telescopes for astronomy.