  Context. Empirical libraries of stellar spectra are used for stellar
classification and synthesis of stellar populations. MILES is a medium
spectral-resolution library in the optical domain covering a wide range of
temperatures, surface gravities and metallicities. Aims. We re-determine the
atmospheric parameters of these stars in order to improve the homogeneity and
accuracy. We build an interpolating function that returns a spectrum as a
function of the three atmospheric parameters, and finally, we characterize the
precision of the wavelength calibration and stability of the spectral
resolution. Methods. We use the ULySS program with the ELODIE library as a
reference and compare the results with literature compilations. Results. We
obtain precisions of 60 K, 0.13 and 0.05 dex respectively for Teff, log g and
[Fe/H] for the FGK stars. For the M stars, the mean errors are 38 K, 0.26 and
0.12 dex, and for the OBA 3.5%, 0.17 and 0.13 dex. We construct an interpolator
that we test against the MILES stars themselves. We test it also by measuring
the atmospheric parameters of the CFLIB stars with MILES as reference and find
it to be more reliable than the ELODIE interpolator for the evolved hot stars,
like in particular those of the blue horizontal branch.

Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics;Solar and Stellar Astrophysics