Kerr effect as a tool for the investigation of dynamic heterogeneities

We propose a dynamic Kerr effect experiment for the distinction between dynamic heterogeneous and homogeneous relaxations in glassy systems. The possibility of this distinction is due to the inherent nonlinearity of the Kerr effect signal. We model the slow reorientational molecular motion in supercooled liquids in terms of noninertial rotational diffusion. The Kerr effect response, consisting of two terms, is calculated for heterogeneous and for homogeneous variants of the stochastic model. It turns out that the experiment is able to distinguish between the two scenarios. We furthermore show that exchange between relatively "slow" and "fast" environments does not affect the possibility of frequency-selective modifications. It is demonstrated how information about changes in the width of the relaxation-time distribution can be obtained from experimental results.