The energy analyzer described is of the spherical mirror‐spherical grid retarding potential type. It obtains high resolution through a small energy overlap between low energy pass and high energy pass filter functions. The first filter is a spherical electron mirror operating slightly off‐axis in a reflection mode. The second filter is a conventional spherical grid retarding field operating in transmission. Unlike other narrow bandpass monochromators, acceptance angle does not affect resolution and can be made to yield high luminosity. In addition, the resolution varies as the square of the entrance aperture dimension; hence larger entrance aperture areas can be used than for dispersive electron energy analyzers of similar size. This analyzer is examined theoretically, and experimental results as applied to ESCA (electron spectroscopy for chemical analysis) are presented.