The 2dF gravitational lens survey

The 2 degree Field (2dF) galaxy redshift survey will involve obtaining spec tra of approximately 2.5 x 10(5) objects which have previously been identif ied as galaxy candidates on morphological grounds. Included in these spectr a should be about ten gravitationally-lensed quasars, all with low-redshift galaxies as deflectors (as the more common lenses with high-redshift defle ctors will be rejected from the survey as multiple point-sources). The lens es will appear as superpositions of galaxy and quasar spectra, and either c ross-correlation techniques or principal components analysis should be able to identify candidates systematically. With the 2dF survey approximately h alf-completed it is now viable to begin a methodical search for these spect roscopic lenses, and the first steps of this project are described here.