A Near-Infrared Imaging Survey of the Chamaeleon I Dark Cloud

We describe a near-infrared imaging survey covering approximately 1 square deg of the Chamaeleon I dark cloud. The survey is complete for K < 15.0, H < 16.0, and J < 16.5, roughly two magnitudes more sensitive than previous large scale surveys. We use the large number of background stars detected to derive an accurate near-infrared extinction law for the cloud and select new candidate members with near-infrared color excesses. We list about 100 candidates of the cloud with K > 12.0, based on their positions in the J-H, H-K color-color diagram. These new stars have low luminosities (K > 12 -- 16, H-K > 0.5 -- 1.5) and may have masses close to or even below the hydrogen burning limit.