We present new near- and mid-IR observations of 19 Class I/flat-spectrum young stellar objects in the nearby \rho Ophiuchi ( d = 125 pc ) and Serpens ( d = 310 pc ) dark clouds .
These observations are part of a larger systematic infrared multiplicity survey of Class I/flat-spectrum objects in the nearest dark clouds .
We find 7/19 ( 37 % \pm 14 % ) of the sources surveyed to be multiple systems over a separation range of \sim 150 – 1800 AU .
This is consistent with the fraction of multiple systems found among older pre-main-sequence stars in each of the Taurus , \rho Ophiuchi , Chamaeleon , Lupus , and Corona Australis star-forming regions over a similar separation range .
However , solar-type main-sequence stars in the solar neighborhood have a fraction approximately one-third that of our Class I/flat-spectrum sample ( 11 % \pm 3 % ) .
This may be attributed to evolutionary effects or environmental differences .
An examination of the spectral energy distributions ( SEDs ) of the SVS 20 and WL 1 binaries reveals that the individual components of each source exhibit the same SED classifications , similar to what one typically finds for binary TTS systems , where the companion of a classical TTS also tends to be of the same SED type .