The spontaneous emission from a three-level atom embedded in a photonic band gap structure is studied. Interference between two transitions leads to quasiperiodic oscillations of population between the two upper levels with large amplitudes. The spontaneous emission of the atom is characterized by three components in the radiated field: a localized part, a traveling pulse, and a $(1/\sqrt{t}{)}^3$ decaying part. An analytical expression for the localization distance of the localized field is obtained. The energy velocity for the traveling pulse could be close to zero. By selecting an appropriate initial superposition state, a large amount of population trapping can be achieved.

• Received 22 January 1997

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.79.205