  Symbiotic stars (SySts) are long-period interacting binaries composed of a
hot compact star, an evolved giant star, and a tangled network of gas and dust
nebulae. They represent unique laboratories for studying a variety of important
astrophysical problems, and have also been proposed as possible progenitors of
SNIa. Presently, we know 257 SySts in the Milky Way and 69 in external
galaxies. However, these numbers are still in striking contrast with the
predicted population of SySts in our Galaxy. Because of other astrophysical
sources that mimic SySt colors, no photometric diagnostic tool has so far
demonstrated the power to unambiguously identify a SySt, thus making the
recourse to costly spectroscopic follow-up still inescapable. In this paper we
present the concept, commissioning, and science verification phases, as well as
the first scientific results, of RAMSES II - a Gemini Observatory Instrument
Upgrade Project that has provided each GMOS instrument at both Gemini
telescopes with a set of narrow-band filters centered on the Raman OVI 6830 A
band. Continuum-subtracted images using these new filters clearly revealed
known SySts with a range of Raman OVI line strengths, even in crowded fields.
RAMSES II observations also produced the first detection of Raman OVI emission
from the SySt LMC 1 and confirmed Hen 3-1768 as a new SySt - the first
photometric confirmation of a SySt. Via Raman OVI narrow-band imaging, RAMSES
II provides the astronomical community with the first purely photometric tool
for hunting SySts in the local Universe.
