  In certain laboratory experiments the production and/or detection of axions
is due to the photon-axion transformations in a strong magnetic field. This
process is coherent, and the rate of the transformation is proportional to the
length $l$ and magnitude $B$ of the magnetic field squared, $\sim l^2B^2$. In
the present paper, we consider coherent production of axions due to the forward
scattering of photons on atoms or molecules. This process may be represented as
being due to an effective electromagnetic field which converts photons to
axions. We present analytical expressions for such effective magnetic and
electric fields induced by resonant atomic M0 and M1 transitions, as well as
give some numerical estimates for these fields. The corresponding experiments
would allow one to measure the electron-axion coupling constant $g_{ae}$ in the
same way as the photon-axion coupling $g_{a\gamma}$ is studied.
