It might sound awkward but can we capture light inside a kaleidoscope or any closed surface whose inner surface can reflect light Consider two cases
When light is perfectly reflected
When light is not perfectly reflected
$\begingroup$
$\endgroup$
2
-
$\begingroup$ Also see news.mit.edu/2014/… $\endgroup$– AlphaLifeCommented Jul 19, 2018 at 7:19
-
$\begingroup$ Possible duplicates: physics.stackexchange.com/q/21301/2451 , physics.stackexchange.com/q/12417/2451 and links therein. $\endgroup$– Qmechanic ♦Commented Jul 19, 2018 at 7:51
Add a comment
|
1 Answer
$\begingroup$
$\endgroup$
2
1: If the light is inside a cavity with perfect reflection, we've, in the classical sense, captured light. We can not observe it however without "consuming it". In the quantum mechanical sense, it is not captured since there are more details to the matter than just reflection.
2: Related to the above answer, if we've imperfect reflection, the photons are transmitted somewhere and we would not have trapped all the photons
-
$\begingroup$ Can you explain what do you mean by "more details to the matter" $\endgroup$ Commented Jul 19, 2018 at 15:21
-
$\begingroup$ @RinkiDwivedi we'll i've no rigorous background in quantum physics so i'd appreciate if someone else could hop in here and help me out, but there are quantum mechanical effects that would basically make it impossible for us to have 100% trapped light. I think we're best off waiting for someone else to add their knowledge here then for me to attemp a halfassed response that makes no sense. $\endgroup$ Commented Jul 20, 2018 at 6:27