Projection optical system, projection exposure apparatus having the projection optical system, projection method thereof, exposure method thereof and fabricating method for fabricating a device using the projection exposure apparatus

A projection optical system for projecting an image on a first plane onto a second plane, comprising:

• a first imaging optical system that forms an intermediate image of the first plane, and a second imaging optical system that forms a final image of the first plane onto the second plane based on an emitted radiation from the intermediate image;
• all optical elements of the first and second imaging optical systems include reflecting faces;
• a field area of the projection optical system is disposed in an area that does not contain an optical axis of the projection optical system;
• wherein the first imaging optical system includes a shading area having a radially symmetrical shape in a pupil plane, and the first imaging optical system is an off-axis forward/backward optical path separation system in which an optical path of radiation incident to each reflecting face of the first imaging optical system differs from an optical path of radiation reflected from each reflecting face of the first imaging optical system;
• and
• wherein the second imaging optical system is a center aperture forward/backward optical path separation system in which an optical path of radiation incident to each reflecting face of the second imaging optical system differs from an optical path of radiation reflected from each reflecting face of the second imaging optical system, and the second imaging optical system includes at least one reflecting face that has an aperture portion.