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A technique for the simulation of multimode quantum optical interferometry and protocols in quantum communications is introduced. This technique is very efficient at simulating in the single-photon-counting regime. This works by treating the photons in the system as members of a multiphoton pulse and reducing the computation of measurable quantities to overlap integrals that may be precomputed and combined in a recursive algorithm. The simulation of a Mach-Zehnder interferometer and the Hong-Ou-Mandel effect are demonstrated using this technique. The results of these simulations perfectly agree with the theoretical results. Additionally, since the effects of the components in the system can be integrated into the quantum operators involved, the technique is agnostic to the components introduced into the system.

The Clauser–Horne–Shimony–Holt (CHSH) experiment is an essential test of nonlocality in quantum mechanics and can be used to validate the principle of entanglement. In addition to verifying entanglement, the measurable CHSH parameter can also be used to gauge the quality of the entanglement present in a system. The measurement of Hong–Ou–Mandel (HOM) interference is another important fundamental experiment in quantum optics that measures the indistinguishability of a pair of photons. In this article, we demonstrate how the results of a HOM interference experiment, a relatively simple experiment, can be used to obtain an estimate for the value of the CHSH $S$ parameter, which is a more complicated measurement. We experimentally demonstrate that the HOM interference technique is capable of providing an estimate of the value of the CHSH parameter that is within one standard deviation of measurement error when spectral impairments are present. We expect that this technique will aid in the calibration of quantum optical systems.

Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) systems exploit the laws of quantum mechanics to generate secure keying material for cryptographic purposes. To date, several commercially viable decoy state enabled QKD systems have been successfully demonstrated and show promise for high-security applications such as banking, government, and military environments. In this work, a detailed performance analysis of decoy state enabled QKD systems is conducted through model and simulation of several common decoy state configurations. The results of this study uniquely demonstrate that the decoy state protocol can ensure Photon Number Splitting (PNS) attacks are detected with high confidence, while maximizing the system’s quantum throughput at no additional cost. Additionally, implementation security guidance is provided for QKD system developers and users.