Photoinduced Kerr rotation spectroscopy for microscopic spin systems using heterodyne detection

We develop a transient photoinduced Kerr rotation spectroscopy technique using a heterodyne detection scheme to study spin dynamics of microscopic quantum states in solids, such as single quantum dots and spin helixes. The use of the heterodyne beat note signal generated by the interference of the frequency-shifted probe and reference pulses realizes the Kerr rotation measurements in combination with micro-spectroscopy, even when the probe pulse propagates collinearly with the strong pump pulse, which resonantly excites the probing state. In addition, the interference gives an optical amplification of the Kerr signal, which provides a clear observation of the photoinduced spin dynamics by the weak probe intensity. Here, we present results of Kerr rotation measurements for a single quantum dot exciton, which shows a maximum rotation angle of few µrad.