Loss-resilient, efficient x-ray interaction-free measurements

Abstract

Interaction-free measurement (IFM) is a promising technique for low-dose detection and imaging, offering the unique advantage of probing an object without absorption of the interrogating photons. We propose an experiment to demonstrate IFM in the single x-ray photon regime. The proposed scheme relies on the triple-Laue (LLL) symmetric x-ray interferometer, where each Laue diffraction acts as a lossy beamsplitter. In contrast to many quantum effects which are highly vulnerable to loss, we show that an experimental demonstration of this effect in the x-ray regime is feasible and can achieve high IFM efficiency even in the presence of substantial loss in the system. The latter aspect is claimed to be a general property of IFM based on our theoretical analysis. We scrutinize two suitable detection schemes that offer efficiencies of up to $η\sim \frac{1}{2}$. The successful demonstration of IFM with x-rays promises intriguing possibilities for measurements with reduced dose, mainly advantageous for biological samples, where radiation damage is a significant limitation.