  We discuss the preliminary results of a survey of young (<300 Myr), close
(<50 pc) stars with the Simultaneous Differential Extrasolar Planet Imager
(SDI) implemented at the VLT and the MMT. SDI uses a double Wollaston prism and
a quad filter to take 4 identical images simultaneously at 3 wavelengths
surrounding the 1.62 um methane bandhead found in the spectrum of cool brown
dwarfs and gas giants. By performing a difference of images in these filters,
speckle noise from the primary can be significantly attenuated, resulting in
photon noise limited data. In our survey data, we achieved H band contrasts
>25000 (5 sigma Delta F1(1.575 um) > 10 mag, Delta H > 11.5 mag for a T6
spectral type) at a separation of 0.5" from the primary star. With this degree
of attenuation, we should be able to image (5 sigma detection) a 2-4 Jupiter
mass planet at 5 AU around a 30 Myr star at 10 pc. We are currently completing
our survey of young, nearby stars. We have obtained complete datasets for 35
stars in the southern sky (VLT) and 7 stars in the northern sky (MMT). We
believe that our SDI images are the highest contrast astronomical images ever
made from ground or space for methane rich companions.
