Echelle spectrographs at grazing incidence

It is shown that by using the conical diffraction mount existing echelle gratings can be used at grazing incidence to achieve high spectral resolution in the extreme UV and soft x rays. Design considerations for grazing incidence echelle spectrographs are examined, and two sample designs are discussed. The first, for use in the extreme UV has a primary mirror and an entrance slit to the spectrograph. The system has resolution of 10(4), operates at any wavelength longward of 100 A, and covers 30% of the spectrum at a single setting. The x-ray spectrograph uses objective gratings to obtain spectral resolution of 2.8 x 10(4) over any factor of 2 in wavelength. It operates to wavelengths as short as 4 A.