Abstract: A method and a system for enabling high accuracy measurements to be obtained of the location of a plane separating two media of different densities by using the Compton effect, and application thereof to measuring the thicknesses of layers. A measurement assembly constituted by a transmitter and a receiver of X-rays or gamma rays which are focused in emission and in reception irradiates an elementary volume of said media, and is displaced perpendicularly to the plane between said media, and a fifth signal is calculated representative of the extent by which the derivative of the detected signal relative to the displacement exceeds a threshold, after which the barycenter of displacements corresponding to the most recent sequence of said same-sign fifth signals is calculated, with the displacements being weighted by the corresponding one of said fifth signals.