  We demonstrate theoretically that shining light on superconducting proximity
structures controls the minigap and triplet proximity effect in normal and
magnetic metals, respectively. Considering both a bilayer and Josephson
junction geometry, we show that microwave irradiation with frequency $\omega$
qualitatively alters the spectral properties of the system, controlling the
minigap size $E_\text{mg}$ and even replacing the minigap with a strong peak of
quasiparticle accumulation at zero energy when $\omega=E_\text{mg}$. The
interaction between light and Cooper pairs may thus open a route to active
control of quantum coherent phenomena in superconducting proximity structures.
