We investigate the dispersion relations for light coupled to one-dimensional
ensembles of atoms with different level schemes. The unifying feature of all
the considered setups is that the forward and backward propagating quantum
fields are coupled by the applied classical drives such that the group velocity
can vanish in an effect known as "stationary light". We derive the dispersion
relations for all the considered schemes, highlighting the important
differences between them. Furthermore, we show that additional control of
stationary light can be obtained by treating atoms as discrete scatterers and
placing them at well defined positions. For the latter purpose, a multi-mode
transfer matrix theory for light is developed
