If you have two mirrors facing each other and you introduce a light source into the reflections and you take the light source away, would it immediately go away for all reflections in the "tunnel" of reflections?
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1$\begingroup$ It wouldn't go away right away but it would go away faster than any human could observe. Mirrors don't reflect 100% of light anyway, so a single photon might survive a handful of reflections back and forth before being absorbed and turned into heat. Now if you set up an experiment in empty space with mirrors several thousands of miles apart you might be able to catch a delayed reflection after turning off the light source. $\endgroup$– userLTKCommented Jan 14, 2016 at 21:36
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$\begingroup$ I was thinking of doing this with something like extremetech.com/computing/… in theory. $\endgroup$– Java-N00bCommented Jan 14, 2016 at 21:42
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$\begingroup$ @userLTK "single photon might survive a handful of reflections back and forth before being absorbed" -- What about high-Q cavities? $\endgroup$– Norbert SchuchCommented Jan 14, 2016 at 22:24
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$\begingroup$ @NorbertSchuch You got me there. I don't know the answer to that one. $\endgroup$– userLTKCommented Jan 14, 2016 at 22:39
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$\begingroup$ Possible duplicate of Mirror reflection $\endgroup$– MuzeCommented Jan 15, 2016 at 9:01
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