Quantum beats in forward scattering: subnanosecond studies with a mode-locked dye laser.

Time-resolved polarization spectroscopy of transient coherent superpositions of atomic substates is extended to the picosecond time scale by using a synchronously pumped mode-locked dye laser. As a first demonstration, hyperfine beats in the sodium D(1) and D(2), lines were resolved. The ground-state splitting could be determined with an accuracy of better than 10(-3).