CAFE: Calar Alto Fiber-fed Echelle spectrograph

We present here CAFE, the Calar Alto Fiber-fed Echelle spectrograph, a new instrument built at the Centro Astronomico Hispano Aleman (CAHA). CAFE is a single-fiber, high-resolution (R similar to 70 000) spectrograph, covering the wavelength range between 3650-9800 angstrom. It was built on the basis of the common design for Echelle spectrographs. Its main aim is to measure radial velocities of stellar objects up to V similar to 13-14 mag with a precision as good as a few tens of m s(-1). To achieve this goal the design was simplified at maximum, removing all possible movable components, the central wavelength is fixed, as is the wavelength coverage; there is no filter wheel, etc. Particular care was taken with the thermal and mechanical stability. The instrument is fully operational and publically accessible at the 2.2 m telescope of the Calar Alto Observatory. In this article we describe (i) the design, summarizing its manufacturing phase; (ii) characterize the main properties of the instrument; (iii) describe the reduction pipeline; and (iv) show the results from the first light and commissioning runs. The preliminar results indicate that the instrument fulfills the specifications and can achieve the planned goals. In particular, the results show that the instrument is more efficient than anticipated, reaching a signalto-noise of similar to 20 for a stellar object as faint as V similar to 14.5 mag in similar to 2700 s integration time. The instrument is a wonderful machine for exoplanetary research (by studying large samples of possible systems cotaining massive planets), galactic dynamics (highly precise radial velocities in moving groups or stellar associations), or astrochemistry.