We explore a counterfactual protocol for energy transfer. A modified version of a Mach-Zehnder interferometer dissociates a photon's position and energy into separate channels, resulting in a photoelectric effect in one channel without the absorption of a photon. We use the quantum Zeno effect to extend our results by recycling the same photon through the system and obtain a stream of photoelectrons. If dissociation of properties such as energy can be demonstrated experimentally, there may be a variety of novel energy-related applications that may arise from the capacity to do non-local work. The dissociation of intrinsic properties, like energy, from elementary particles may also lead to theoretical discussions of the constitution of quantum objects.
@article{arxiv.1910.09364,
title = {The Counterfactual Photoelectric Effect},
author = {A. Ludu and J. A. Morris and C. Rugina},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1910.09364},
year = {2019}
}