Coupled dielectric waveguides with photonic crystal properties

A system of planar waveguides coupled through a periodic set of small windows is considered. It is shown that the weak periodic coupling of the waveguides leads to an additional eigenvalue band separated by a gap from the threshold of a continuous spectrum branch. Thus, the system has photonic crystal properties, which can be used to construct optical fiber devices. This system can also play the role of a SCISSOR device for reducing the group velocity of light, in optical delay lines, etc.