  We use time-resolved optical reflectivity to study the laser stimulated
dynamics in the magnetic shape memory alloy Ni_2MnGa. We observe two coherent
optical phonons, at 1.2 THz in the martensite phase and at 0.7 THz in the
pre-martensite phase, which we interpret as a zone-folded acoustic phonon and a
heavily damped amplitudon respectively. In the martensite phase the martensitic
phase transition can be induced by a fs laser pulse on a timescale of a few ps.
