Coherent hard x-ray beams with a flux exceeding 109 photons/sec with a bandwidth of 0.1% will be provided by undulators at the third-generation synchrotron radiation sources such as APS, ESRF, and Spring-8. The availability of such high flux coherent x-ray beams offers excellent opportunities for extending the coherence-based techniques developed in the visible and soft x-ray part of the electromagnetic spectrum to the hard x-ray region. These x-ray techniques (e.g., diffraction-limited microfocusing, holography, interferometry, phase contrast imaging, and signal enhancement) may offer substantial advantages over noncoherence-based x-ray techniques currently used. For example, the signal-enhancement technique may be used to enhance an anomalous x-ray or magnetic x-ray scattering signal by several orders of magnitude. Coherent x rays can be focused to a very small (diffraction-limited) spot size, thus allowing construction of high spatial resolution microprobes. This paper will discuss the feasibility of extending some coherence-based techniques to the hard x-ray range and the significant progress that has been made in the development of diffraction-limited focusing optics. Specific experimental results for a transmission Fresnel phase zone plate that can focus 8.2 keV x rays to a spot size of about 2 microns will be briefly discussed. The comparison of measured focusing efficiency of the zone plate with that calculated will be made. Some specific applications of zone plates as coherent x-ray optics will be discussed.