Book excerpt: The focus of this book lies at the meeting point of electromagnetic waveguides and photonic crystals. Although these are both widely studied topics, they have been kept apart until recently. The purpose of the first edition of this book was to give state-of-the-art theoretical and numerical viewpoints about exotic fibres which use “photonic crystal effects” and consequently exhibit some remarkable properties.Since that first edition, photonic crystal fibres have become an important and effective optical device. In this second edition, the description of the theoretical and numerical tools used to study these fibres is enhanced, whilst up-to-date information about the properties, applications and fabrication of these fibres is added./a