Coherent control of precessional dynamics in thin film permalloy

We demonstrate a method of eliminating overshoot and ringing in magnetization dynamics when the system bandwidth includes the intrinsic ferromagnetic resonance (FMR). The method employs staggered step excitation for the cancellation of FMR oscillations while maximizing the risetime of the magnetization response. The second-harmonic magneto-optic Kerr effect is used to measure the magnetic response at a localized spot on the sample. The measured response is adequately modeled with the Landau-Lifshitz-Gilbert differential equation. We explain the observed behavior in terms of destructive interference. [S0003-6951(00)02915-6].