Porous anodic alumina waveguide plasmon sensors: influence of structural parameters on sensing performance

Porous anodic alumina waveguide plasmon sensors: influence of structural parameters on sensing performance | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Porous anodic alumina waveguide plasmon sensors: influence of structural parameters on sensing performance George Tassis, Anastasia Christoulaki, Nikolaos Spiliopoulos This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-9083873/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Under Review Version 1 posted 7 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract A comparative study of thin porous anodic alumina (PAA) plasmonic sensors is presented. Coupled plasmon–waveguide resonance spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy are employed to investigate the structural parameters governing the sensing performance of PAA-based waveguide configurations. Partial electrochemical anodization of thin aluminum films deposited on glass substrates produces an Al/Al₂O₃ interface that supports surface electromagnetic modes, while the resulting porous anodic alumina layer provides enhanced detection efficiency mainly due to its increased active surface area. The influence of key geometrical parameters - namely PAA thickness, pore radius, and porosity - on the optical response of the sensor is systematically examined, and corresponding calibration curves are established. In addition, Bruggeman effective medium theory is applied to model the effective dielectric properties of the porous layer and to fit in situ reflectance measurements during pore widening. The quantitative agreement between optical modeling and independent morphological SEM characterization demonstrates that this approach provides a framework for quantifying mass adsorption in porous waveguide plasmon sensors, yielding sensitivities exceeding those of conventional planar SPR sensors. Plasmon Sensor Waveguide Porous Alumina In situ Monitoring Pore Widening Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Under Review Version 1 posted Editorial decision: Revision requested 31 Mar, 2026 Reviews received at journal 31 Mar, 2026 Reviewers agreed at journal 26 Mar, 2026 Reviewers invited by journal 24 Mar, 2026 Editor assigned by journal 11 Mar, 2026 Submission checks completed at journal 11 Mar, 2026 First submitted to journal 10 Mar, 2026 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-9083873","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":611986997,"identity":"c3a4172c-3409-4ef1-a49f-3913aaf4c2cd","order_by":0,"name":"George Tassis","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"University of Patras","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"George","middleName":"","lastName":"Tassis","suffix":""},{"id":611987004,"identity":"2f141f0e-a2f7-4822-887d-fd89b9464ef0","order_by":1,"name":"Anastasia Christoulaki","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"University of Patras","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Anastasia","middleName":"","lastName":"Christoulaki","suffix":""},{"id":611987006,"identity":"928c38f9-f26e-4cd6-a83e-112ec521e363","order_by":2,"name":"Nikolaos Spiliopoulos","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAA2ElEQVRIiWNgGAWjYJCCAw8MGBj4SdOSANQi2QBiEa0nAYgNDhCrxZz/7MEDCQU2ecY3cg9+/rjHzp6Bf+0DvFosZ+QlAB2WVmx2Iy9Z4sCz5MQGiecGeLUY3OAxAGo5nLjtRo6BxIEDzAkMEsfwO8zg/BmIls0zcox/HDhQb09Yy4EciJYNEjlmQFsOMzbwtxHQcgPqF4kz79Iszhw4ntgmwUbIYWcPf/jwxyaPvz338I2KA9X2/PwEHMbAwAMmE2AMBjaJBFK1MPAfIKRlFIyCUTAKRhgAAI59TwHYkBLSAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC","orcid":"","institution":"University of Patras","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Nikolaos","middleName":"","lastName":"Spiliopoulos","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2026-03-10 12:23:14","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-9083873/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-9083873/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":105565717,"identity":"8eff4eac-efa9-4e21-847e-cdc6c8bde404","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-03-27 12:54:09","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":1229755,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"Porousanodicaluminawaveguideplasmonsensorsinfluenceofstructuralparametersonsensingperformance.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-9083873/v1_covered_7f1c6daf-684a-4585-9af5-bcbee98f7c3e.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"Porous anodic alumina waveguide plasmon sensors: influence of structural parameters on sensing performance","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":false,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":true,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"plasmonics","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"plas","sideBox":"Learn more about [Plasmonics](https://www.springer.com/journal/11468)","snPcode":"11468","submissionUrl":"https://submission.nature.com/new-submission/11468/3","title":"Plasmonics","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"em","reportingPortfolio":"Springer Hybrid","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":false},"keywords":"Plasmon Sensor, Waveguide, Porous Alumina, In situ Monitoring, Pore Widening","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-9083873/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-9083873/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eA comparative study of thin porous anodic alumina (PAA) plasmonic sensors is presented. Coupled plasmon\u0026ndash;waveguide resonance spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy are employed to investigate the structural parameters governing the sensing performance of PAA-based waveguide configurations. Partial electrochemical anodization of thin aluminum films deposited on glass substrates produces an Al/Al₂O₃ interface that supports surface electromagnetic modes, while the resulting porous anodic alumina layer provides enhanced detection efficiency mainly due to its increased active surface area. The influence of key geometrical parameters - namely PAA thickness, pore radius, and porosity - on the optical response of the sensor is systematically examined, and corresponding calibration curves are established. In addition, Bruggeman effective medium theory is applied to model the effective dielectric properties of the porous layer and to fit in situ reflectance measurements during pore widening. The quantitative agreement between optical modeling and independent morphological SEM characterization demonstrates that this approach provides a framework for quantifying mass adsorption in porous waveguide plasmon sensors, yielding sensitivities exceeding those of conventional planar SPR sensors.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003cdiv description=\"\" class=\"Drawing\" id=\"4\" name=\"Εικόνα 4\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/p\u003e","manuscriptTitle":"Porous anodic alumina waveguide plasmon sensors: influence of structural parameters on sensing performance","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2026-03-26 12:56:53","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-9083873/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0},{"type":"decision","content":"Revision requested","date":"2026-03-31T10:57:09+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorInvitedReview","content":"","date":"2026-03-31T08:31:16+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"247041033558098394862339362213576880998","date":"2026-03-26T14:26:51+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewersInvited","content":"","date":"2026-03-24T11:54:59+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorAssigned","content":"","date":"2026-03-12T00:13:17+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"checksComplete","content":"","date":"2026-03-12T00:12:46+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"submitted","content":"Plasmonics","date":"2026-03-10T12:05:21+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"plasmonics","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"plas","sideBox":"Learn more about [Plasmonics](https://www.springer.com/journal/11468)","snPcode":"11468","submissionUrl":"https://submission.nature.com/new-submission/11468/3","title":"Plasmonics","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"em","reportingPortfolio":"Springer Hybrid","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":false}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"9e1bf329-fb05-4529-b60a-e392a8bcbcce","owner":[],"postedDate":"March 26th, 2026","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"under-review","subjectAreas":[],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2026-04-21T11:39:10+00:00","versionOfRecord":[],"versionCreatedAt":"2026-03-26 12:56:53","video":"","vorDoi":"","vorDoiUrl":"","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-9083873","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-9083873","identity":"rs-9083873","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"XKTyCvWXoU3ODBz1xrDgd","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}