We describe the absorption by the walls of a quantum electrodynamics cavity as a process during which the elementary excitations (photons) of an internal mode of the cavity exit by tunneling through the cavity walls. We estimate by classical methods the survival time of a photon inside the cavity and the quality factor of its mirrors.
@article{arxiv.1301.4404,
title = {Absorption in quantum electrodynamics cavities in terms of a quantum jump operator},
author = {V. Debierre and G. Demésy and T. Durt and A. Nicolet and B. Vial and F. Zolla},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1301.4404},
year = {2015}
}