Loss-resilient, x-ray interaction-free measurements

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 detection with reduced dose and 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 a dose reduction of up to half compared to direct detection.

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.