Magnetoelastic excitation of single nanomagnets for optical measurement of intrinsic Gilbert damping

We report an alternative all-optical technique to drive and probe the spin dynamics of single nanomagnets. Optically generated surface acoustic waves (SAWs) drive the magnetization precession in nanomagnets via magnetoelastic (MEL) coupling. We investigate the field-swept dynamics of isolated Ni nanomagnets at various SAW frequencies and show that this method can be used to accurately determine the intrinsic Gilbert damping of nanostructured magnetic materials. This technique opens a new avenue for studying the spin dynamics of nanoscale devices using nonthermal (``cold'') excitation, enabling direct observation of the MEL driven dynamics.