Laser-induced above-band-gap transparency in GaAs.

We report the observation of large (approximately 40%) laser-induced above-band-gap transparency in GaAs at room temperature. The induced transparency is present only during the pulse width of the driving midinfrared laser pulses and its spectral shape is consistent with a laser-induced blueshift of the band edge. Our simulations based on the dynamic Franz-Keldysh effect reproduce the salient features of the experimental results, demonstrating, in particular, that the amount of the band edge shift is approximately given by the ponderomotive potential.