The Magellan Inamori Kyocera Echelle (MIKE) is a double echelle spectrograph designed for use at the Magellan Telescopes at Las Campanas Observatory in Chile. It is currently in the final stages of construction and is scheduled for commissioning in the last quarter of 2002. In standard observing mode, the blue (320-480 nm) and red (440-1000 nm) channels are used simultaneously to obtain spectra over the full wavelength range with only a few gaps in wavelength coverage at the reddest orders.

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... channels contain a three-group set of all-spherical, standard optical glass and calcium fluoride lenses which function as both camera and collimator in a double pass configuration. A single, standard echelle grating is used on each side and is illuminated close to true Littrow. Prism cross-dispersers are also used doublepass, and provide a minimum separation between orders of 6 arcsec. Spectral resolution is 19,000 and 25,000 on the red and blue sides, respectively, with a 1 arcsec slit. Typical rms image diameter is less than 0.2 arcsec, so that resolution increases linearly with decreasing slit width. The standard observing mode will use a slit up to 5" long, however a fiberfed mode will also be available using blocking filters to select the desired orders for up to 256 objects at a time. In this paper, we describe the optical and mechanical design of the instrument.