Abstract
Cholesteric liquid crystal structures with multiple isotropic defect layers exhibit localized optical modes (defect modes). Coupling effects between these modes were simulated using the finite difference time domain method. Analogous to the well-known result of the tight-binding approximation in solid state physics, splitting of the defect modes takes place, as soon as the structure contains more than one defect layer. The dispersion relation of the mini-bands forming within the photonic band gap of the structure is calculated numerically. The structures might have promising applications for multiwavelength filters and low-threshold lasers.