We have attempted subpicosecond time-resolved absorption spectroscopy of all-trans-β-carotene in organic solvents in the 820–1060 nm region and found novel transient absorption features which lived in subpicosecond time scales. A first component that appeared immediately after excitation showed a lifetime of 190 ± 10 fs in n-hexane in agreement with the 1B_u lifetime that had been determined by fluorescence upconversion spectroscopy (195 ± 10 fs). (Kandori et al. [1994] J. Am. Chem. Soc. 116, 2671–2672.) Therefore, this component is assigned to a transient absorption from the 1B_u state.