Nondistortion Quantum Interrogation using EPR entangled Photons

Abstract

We propose a novel scheme for nondistortion quantum interrogation (NQI), defined as an interaction-free measurement which preserves the internal state of the object being detected. In our scheme, two EPR entangled photons are used as the probe and polarization sensitive measurements are performed at the four ports of the Mach-Zehnder interferometer. In comparison with the previous single photon scheme, it is shown that the two photon approach has a higher probability of initial state preserving interrogation of an atom prepared in a quantum superposition. In the case that the presence of the atom is not successfully detected, the experiment can be repeated since the initial state of the atom is unperturbed.