Colloids - e.g. nanoparticles in solution - are objects that exhibit original optical properties. Their use as building block for fabrication of subwavelength optical components may allow novel applications in the field of integrated optics and biological detection. Anyway colloidal particles handling remains a challenge because of their small size and their random dispersion into a liquid medium. In this context, we created new colloidal optical components thanks to nanofabrication techniques based on the convective assisted capillary force assembly method. Two different kinds of structure were made and their optical behavior was studied : gold colloidal dimers and polystyrene dielectric microspheres assembled as chains or arrays. For the dimers, a fundamental study was performed on plasmonic phenomena that rule the optical properties of these objects. Next, their potential was evaluated in terms of ultrasensitive SERS sensor and also as optical nanoantenna of quantum dot emitters. For the microspheres, the propagation and scattering behaviors of whispering gallery modes that travel into the microspheres were first investigated. Their potential use as ultra- sensitive sensors was also discussed. In addition, a second study was made on the guiding properties of linear microspheres chains. In order to complete this work, one last optical component was developped in addition to the fabricated colloidal waveguides and colloidal sensors. This component is a white light microsource that was designed for applications as a versatile localized emitter for integrated optics.
