Picosecond acoustic-excitation-driven ultrafast magnetization dynamics in dielectric Bi-substituted yttrium iron garnet

Using femtosecond optical pulses, we have investigated the ultrafast magnetization dynamics induced in a dielectric film of bismuth-substituted yttrium iron garnet (Bi-YIG) buried below a thick Cu/Pt metallic bilayer. We show that exciting the sample from the Pt surface launches an acoustic strain pulse propagating into the garnet film. We discovered that this strain pulse induces a coherent magnetization precession in the Bi-YIG at the frequency of the ferromagnetic resonance. The observed phenomena can be explained by strain-induced changes of magnetocrystalline anisotropy via the inverse magnetostriction effect. These findings open perspectives toward the control of the magnetization in magnetic garnets embedded in complex heterostructure devices.