Precise Monte Carlo Simulation of Single-Photon Detectors

Abstract: We demonstrate the importance and utility of Monte Carlo simulation of single-photon detectors. Devising an optimal simulation is strongly influenced by the particular application because of the complexity of modern, avalanche-diode-based single-photon detectors.. Using a simple yet very demanding example of random number generation via detection of Poissonian photons exiting a beam splitter, we present a Monte Carlo simulation that faithfully reproduces the serial autocorrelation of random bits as a function of detection frequency over four orders of magnitude of the incident photon flux. We conjecture that this simulation approach can be easily modified for use in many other applications.