2001ApJ...547..124F

We present high spatial resolution near-infrared H-band (1.65 µm) images, taken with ISAAC on UT1 of the ESO Very Large Telescope, of three radio-loud quasars at z∼1.5, as a pilot study for imaging of a larger sample of radio-loud and radio-quiet quasars in the redshift range 1<z<2. We are able to clearly detect the host galaxy in two quasars (PKS 0000-177 and PKS 0348-120) and marginally in the third (PKS 0402-362). The host galaxies appear compact (average bulge scale length R(e)∼4 kpc) and luminous [average M_H=-27.6±0.1 ]. They are ∼2.5 mag more luminous than the typical galaxy luminosity [M^*_H=-25.0±0.2], and are comparable to the hosts of low-redshift radio-loud quasars [M_H~-26], taking into account passive stellar evolution. Their luminosities are also similar to those of high-redshift radio galaxies. All three quasars have at least one close companion galaxy at a projected distance less than 50 kpc from the quasar, assuming they are at the same redshift.