Spin waves and small intrinsic damping in an in-plane magnetized FePt film

Laser-induced spin-wave dynamics in an in-plane magnetized FePt film is studied using all-optical pump-probe magneto-optical Kerr spectroscopy under different external fields and pump fluences. Uniform precession spin wave is observed. Nonlinear external field dependence of its frequency is found and well explained by the macrospin model of uniform precession. The effective damping shows a significant external-field dependence. Calculation taking account for magnetic inhomogeneity fits the external-field dependence well, revealing main magnetic inhomogeneity origin of the extrinsic damping. An intrinsic Gilbert damping parameter of <0.028 is inferred and shows potential applications of this film in magnonics. (C) 2012 American Institute of Physics. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4768787]