CRIRES: a high-resolution infrared spectrograph for the VLT

CRIRES is a cryogenic, pre-dispersed, infrared echelle spectrograph designed to provide a resolving power of 10 5 between 1 and 5 μm at a Nasmyth focus of one of the 8m VLT telescopes. A curvature sensing adaptive optics sytem feed is used to minimize slit losses and a 4096x512 pixel mosaic of Aladdin arrays is being developed to maximixe the free spectral range covered in each order. Insertion of gas cells to measure high precision radial velocities is foreseen and the possibility of combining a Fresnel rhomb with a Wollaston prism for magnetic Doppler imaging is under study. Installation at the VLT is scheduled during the second half of 2004. Here we briefly recall the major design features of CRIRES and describe its current development status.