  The metastable a(1)[^3\Sigma^+] state of PbO has been suggested as a suitable
system in which to search for the electric dipole moment (EDM) of the electron.
We report here the development of experimental techniques allowing
high-sensitivity measurements of Zeeman and Stark effects in this system,
similar to those required for an EDM search. We observe Zeeman quantum beats in
fluorescence from a vapor cell, with shot-noise limited extraction of the
quantum beat frequencies, high counting rates, and long coherence times. We
argue that improvement in sensitvity to the electron EDM by at least two orders
of magnitude appears possible using these techniques.
