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A review is provided of recent time-resolved scanning Kerr microscopy experiments and micromagnetic simulations of magnetization dynamics in single nanomagnets, and in pairs of dipolar coupled nanomagnets. Two nanomagnet systems are presented. In a single 440 nm square, the effect of the pulsed field amplitude on the relative amplitudes of center- and edge-type confined spin wave modes is explored. In addition, the difference in the damping of dynamics observed in different magnetic ground states is discussed. In pairs of 300 nm disks, the relative effect of structural imperfections and static dipolar fields on the splitting of edge-modes is investigated as a function of disk separation.

We review the use of numerical micromagnetic simulations (“micromagnetics”) for investigations in magnonics, the study of spin waves and their quanta – magnons. We argue that, when used with suitable post-processing tools, micromagnetics provide the power and flexibility necessary both for interpretation of complex magnonic phenomena observed in realistic magnetic structures and devices and for prediction of novel effects. We foresee that the development of multiscale and multiphysics extensions of micromagnetic solvers will broaden both the scope of micromagnetic simulations in magnonics and the field of magnonics itself. For example, the extension of micromagnetics to solvers based on atomistic spin models will underpin application of the developed methodology to studies of phenomena involving both magnons and other fundamental excitations of the solid state. In a more distant perspective, it is highly intriguing to study spin waves in non-stationary conditions (i.e. in structures with time dependent material properties), such as those realized in experiments with samples under ultrafast optical pumping.