ISOCAM observations of the Chamaeleon I dark cloud

We present the results of an ISOCAM survey of the Chamaeleon I dark cloud conducted in two broad-band filters at 6.7 and 14.3 m. In an area of 0.59 sq.deg. we have detected a total of 282 mid-IR sources with 103 sources observed in both filters. Combining the ISOCAM observations with the I, J, and Ks data obtained with DENIS, we have found 108 pre-main- sequence (PMS) stars in the region, of which 34 were previously unidentified. Several of these newly discovered young stellar objects are relatively faint suggesting a population in Cha I of very low mass objects that probably includes brown dwarfs in their early contraction phases. Finally, most of the PMS stars show the spectral index computed between 2.2 and 14.3 m typical of Class II sources. The luminosity function (LF) derived for our detected PMS stars is discussed.