Photoinduced spin waves are investigated for Fe films on AlGaAs (001) using the time resolved magneto‐optical Kerr effect. We observe first and second order standing spin waves as well as uniform magnetization precession. The anisotropy fields and exchange stiffness constant are obtained from the field and azimuthal dependence of the spin wave frequencies using the Landau‐Lifshitz‐Gilbert equation. A comparison with spin wave resonance measurements reveals a more pronounced interface effect on the low order standing spin waves in thin films. (© 2008 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)