The Wavefront Errors mentioned in the article
assumed Peak-to-Valley Wavefront Errors at 550 nanometers. A group of
renegade optical companies are challenging the Peak-to-Valley measurement in
favour of an RMS Wavefront Error they claim is more representative of a mirror's
actual performance. This measure is more forgiving than the Peak-to-Valley
measurement in that it burys the highest peak and lowest valley in a statistical
average. It also brings some confusion to the marketplace because its
statistical fraction of a longer wavelength of light produces a common fraction
that as a Peak-to-Valley fraction would be far more impressive. The RMS
Wavefront Error: 1 / 14 of 633 nanometers, has the same magnitude as a P-V Wavefront
Error that is 1 / 4 of 550 nanometers. l/14
seems much smaller than l/4, but it's not. Saying
that it is smaller, is like saying 1 inch is smaller than 25.4 millimeters
because 1 is a smaller number than the number 25.4.
Caveat Emptor
For an optical instrument to meet the definition
of a true telescope, the total instrument must be Diffraction Limited. Since
Wavefront Errors are cumulative, having one of the optical compontents
(Main Mirror or the Secondary Mirror) meet the requirement is not good enough,
because the other optical component would have to be absolutely perfect,
which is simply not possible. The minimal P-V Wavefront Error for each
component is l/8 @550 nm. since 1/8 + 1/8 = 2/8 = 1/4.
This works out to a minimal RMS Wavefront Error of l/28 @
633 nm. as
1/28 + 1/28 = 2/28 = 1/14.