  When a resonant laser sent on an optically thick cold atomic cloud is
abruptly switched off, a coherent flash of light is emitted in the forward
direction. This transient phenomenon is observed due to the highly resonant
character of the atomic scatterers. We analyze quantitatively its
spatio-temporal properties and show very good agreement with theoretical
predictions. Based on complementary experiments, the phase of the coherent
field is reconstructed without interferometric tools.
