  Forty new low mass members with spectral types ranging from M4-M9 have been
confirmed in the Orion Molecular Cloud 2/3 region. Through deep, I, z', J, H, K
photometry of a 20' x 20' field in OMC 2/3, we selected brown dwarf candidates
for follow-up spectroscopy. Low resolution far-red and near-infrared spectra
were obtained for the candidates, and 19 young brown dwarfs in the OMC 2/3
region are confirmed. They exhibit spectral types of M6.5-M9, corresponding to
approximate masses of 0.075-0.015 M_solar using the evolutionary models of
Baraffe et al. (1998). At least one of these bona fide young brown dwarfs has
strong Halpha emission, indicating that it is actively accreting. In addition,
we confirm 21 new low mass members with spectral types of M4-M6, corresponding
to approximate masses of 0.35-0.10 M_solar in OMC 2/3. By comparing pre-main
sequence tracks to the positions of the members in the H-R diagram, we find
that most of the brown dwarfs are less than 1 Myr, but find a number of low
mass stars with inferred ages greater than 3 Myr. The discrepancy in the
stellar and substellar ages is due to our selection of only low luminosity
sources; however, the presence of such objects implies the presence of an age
spread in the OMC 2/3 region. We discuss possible reasons for this apparent age
spread.
