We present the results of high angular resolution adaptive optics ( AO ) near-infrared ( JHK _ { s } ) observations of the deeply embedded massive cluster RCW 38 using NACO on the VLT . Narrowband AO observations centered at wavelengths of 1.28 µm , 2.12 µm , and 2.17 µm were also obtained . The area covered by these observations is about 0.5 pc square , centered on the O star RCW 38 IRS2 . We use the JHK _ { s } colors to identify young stars with infrared excess in this region . Through a detailed comparison to a nearby control field , we find that most of the 337 stars detected in all three infrared bands are cluster members ( \sim 317 ) , with essentially no contamination due to background ( likely due to the high cluster extinction of A _ { V } \sim 15 ) or foreground sources . Five sources with 3 band detections have colors suggestive of deeply embedded protostars , while 53 sources are detected at K _ { s } only ; their spatial distribution with respect to the extinction suggests they are highly reddened cluster members but their evolutionary status is unclear . Detectable K _ { s } -band excess is found toward 29 \pm 3 \% of the stars . For comparison to a similar area of Orion Nebula Cluster observed in the near-infrared , mass and extinction cuts are applied , and the excess fractions redetermined . The resulting excesses are then 25 \pm 5 \% for RCW 38 , and 42 \pm 8 \% for Orion . RCW 38 IRS2 is shown to be a massive star binary with a projected separation of \sim 500 AU . Two regions of molecular hydrogen emission are revealed through the 2.12 µm imaging . One of these shows a morphology suggestive of a protostellar jet , and is clearly associated with a star only detected at H and K _ { s } , and previously identified as a highly obscured X-ray source . Three spatially extended cometary-like objects , suggestive of photoevaporating disks , are identified , but only one is clearly directly influenced by RCW 38 IRS2 . The structure of the inner core of RCW 38 is also characterized and compared to Orion and other clusters . A King profile provides a reasonable fit to the cluster radial density profile and a nearest neighbor distance analysis shows essentially no sub-clustering .