Brown Dwarfs in ChaI Dark Cloud

We present the results of a multiband survey for brown dwarfs in the Chamaeleon I dark cloud with the Wide Field Imager (WFI) camera at the ESO/MPG 2.2-m telescope on La Silla (Chile) on 28-May to 03-Jun 1999. The survey has revealed a substantial population of brown dwarfs in this southern star-forming region. Candidates were selected from R, I and H{alpha} imaging observations. We also observed in two medium-band filters, M855 and M915, for spectral type determination. The former filter covers a wavelength range containing spectral features characteristic of M-dwarfs, while the latter lies in a relatively featureless wavelength region for these late-type objects. A correlation was found b…