arXiv:2601.15502v1 Announce Type: new
Abstract: This study investigates the dynamics of red blood cells (RBCs) under the influence of evanescent waves generated by total internal reflection (TIR). Using a 1064 nm laser system and a dual-chamber prism setup, we quantified the mobility of erythrocytes in different glucose environments. Our methodology integrates automated tracking via TrackMatec{opyright} to analyze over 60 trajectory sets. The results reveal a significant decrease in mean velocity, from 11.8 {mu}m/s in 5 mM glucose to 8.8 {mu}m/s in 50 mM glucose (p = 0.019). These findings suggest that evanescent waves can serve as a non-invasive tool to probe the mechanical properties of cell membranes influenced by biochemical changes.