We have experimentally studied polarization properties of the two-dimensional coupled photonic crystal microcavity arrays and observed a strong polarization dependence of the transmission and reflection of light from the structures-effects that can be employed in building miniaturized polarizing optical components. Moreover, by combining these properties with a strong sensitivity of the coupled bands on the surrounding refractive index, we have demonstrated a detection of small refractive-index changes in the environment, which is useful for construction of biochemical sensors. (c) 2005 Optical Society of America