Optical excitation of multiple standing spin modes in 3D optomagnonic nanocavities

Abstract: We report the first experimental observation of multiple standing spin modes in 3D optomagnonic nanocavity formed by nanometer-sized iron-garnet nanocylinder. We show that launching of standing spin modes is achieved due to a high confinement of the optically generated effective magnetic field caused by the localized optical resonance. Quantization and spin-wave mode inhomogeneity is achieved in each of the three spatial dimensions. The presented approach opens new horizons of 3D optomagnonics by combining nanophotonic and magnonic functionalities within a single nanocavity.