  We report the observation of large ($\sim 40%$) laser-induced above-bandgap
transparency in GaAs at room temperature. The induced transparency is present
only during the pulse width of the driving midinfrard laser pulses and its
spectral shape is consistent with a laser-induced blue shift 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 ponderomtive
potential.
