We report on a near-infrared adaptive optics survey of a sample of 66 low-mass members of the pre-main sequence stellar cluster IC 348 .
We find 12 binary systems in the separation range 0 \aas@@fstack { \prime \prime } 1 –8 ^ { \prime \prime } , excluding 3 probable background projected companions .
An estimate of the number of faint undetected companions is derived , before we evaluate the binary frequency in this cluster .
In the range \log P = 5.0–7.9 days , the binary fraction in IC 348 is 19 \pm 5 % .
This is similar to the values corresponding to G- and M-dwarfs in the solar neighbourhood population ( 23 \pm 3 % and \sim 18 % , respectively ) .
Furthermore , the distribution of orbital periods of IC 348 binaries in this range is consistent with that of field binaries .
We conclude that there is no binary excess in IC 348 .

Substellar companions are found to be rare , or even missing , as companions of low-mass stars in the separation range we surveyed .
Also , the mass ratio distribution is not peaked at q \approx 1 in IC 348 , and it is unlikely that an observational bias can account for that .

We do not find any evidence for an evolution of the binary frequency with age within the age spread of the cluster of about 10 Myr .
Comparing the binary frequency in IC 348 with that of other star forming regions ( SFRs ) and young open clusters , we conclude that there is no significant temporal evolution of the binary fraction between a few Myrs after the formation process and the zero-age main sequence ( ZAMS ) and field populations .
We find instead a trend for the binary fraction to be inversely correlated with stellar density , with dense clusters having a binary fraction similar to that of field dwarfs and loose associations exhibiting an excess of binaries .
Two scenarios can be suggested to explain these differences : either all SFRs , clusters and associations alike , initially host a large number of binaries , which is subsequently reduced only in dense clusters on a timescale of less than 1 Myr due to numerous gravitational encounters , or specific initial conditions in the parental molecular clouds impact on the fragmentation process leading to intrinsically different binary fractions from one SFR to the other .