We investigate numerically the properties of metallo-dielectric, one-dimensional, photonic band-gap structures. Our theory predicts that interference effects give rise to a new transparent metallic structure that permits the transmission of light over a tunable range of frequencies, for example, the ultraviolet, the visible, or the infrared wavelength range. The structure can be designed to block ultraviolet light, transmit in the visible range, and reflect all other electromagnetic waves of lower frequencies, from infrared to microwaves and beyond. The transparent metallic structure is composed of a stack of alternating layers of a metal and a dielectric material, such that the complex index of refraction alternates between a high and a low value. The structure remains transparent even if the total amount of metal is increased to hundreds of skin depths in net thickness.

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The interaction of a pair of copropagating pulses with three-level ⌳-type atoms is discussed in terms of time-dependent coupled and decoupled superpositions ͉Ϯ͘ of the lower levels. Due to the explicit time dependence of these states there is a nonadiabatic coupling between the ''bright'' state ͉ϩ͘ and the ''dark'' state ͉Ϫ͘ in addition to the strong coupling between ͉ϩ͘ and the upper level ͉a͘. We show that under quasiadiabatic conditions and in the presence of decay from the upper level this coupling can be treated perturbatively and the Maxwell-Bloch equations can be solved analytically. With the help of such a perturbation approach, coherent population transfer and formstable laser pulse propagation are studied. ͓S1050-2947͑96͒06206-3͔

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