Owl Optical Design, Active Optics and Error Budget

We explore solutions for the optical design of the OWL 100-m telescope, and discuss their properties, advantages and drawbacks in relation to top level requirements. Combining cost, design, fabrication and functionality issues, and taking into account the scale of the telescope, we conclude that the requirements are best met with a design based on spherical primary and secondary mirrors. The combined active and adaptive correction capability envisioned for the telescope allows substantial relaxation of otherwise critical subsystems specifications. We elaborate on the telescope correction capabilities, including alignment and focusing, and derive the structure of the optical error budget.