L. Testi et al., NICS-TNG low-resolution 0.85-2.45 micron spectra of L dwarfs: A near-infrared spectral classification scheme for faint dwarfs, ASTROPHYS J, 552(2), 2001, pp. L147-L150
We present complete near-infrared (0.85-2.45 mum), low-resolution (similar
to 100) spectra of a sample of 26 disk L dwarfs with reliable optical spect
ral type classification. The observations have been obtained with the Near
Infrared Camera and Spectrograph at the Telescopio Nazionale Galileo using
a prism-based optical element (the Amici device) that provides a complete s
pectrum of the source on the detector. Our observations show that low-resol
ution near-infrared spectroscopy can be used to determine the spectral clas
sification of L dwarfs in a fast but accurate way. We present a library of
spectra that can be used as templates for spectral classification of faint
dwarfs. We also discuss a set of near-infrared spectral indices well correl
ated with the optical spectral types that can be used to classify accuratel
y L dwarfs earlier than L6.