Holey fibres have a broad range of optical properties thanks to their microstructuration and offer a wide range of applications. The combination of intrinsic properties of compound glass, such as chalcogenide glass, and a microstructured fibre geometry allows to consider exacerbated optical properties such as dispersion and nonlinearity for these fibres. In this study, high-index sulphide glass holey fibres (n = 2.251 at 1.55 mu m) have been accomplished using the capillary-stacking technique. Sulphide glasses from the GeGaSbS system are used. The drawing step is crucial for microstructuration and for determination of optical properties. Sulphide holey fibres, which were optically characterised with near-field spectroscopy at 1.55 mu m, show a single-mode guidance with an effective mode area of 108 mu m(2). (C) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.