The interplay of local electron correlations and ultrafast spin dynamics in fcc Ni

Abstract

The complex electronic structure of metallic ferromagnets is determined by a balance between exchange interaction, electron hopping leading to band formation, and local Coulomb repulsion. By combining high energy and temporal resolution in femtosecond time-resolved X-ray absorption spectroscopy with ab initio time-dependent density functional theory we analyze the electronic structure in fcc Ni on the time scale of these interactions in a pump-probe experiment. We distinguish transient broadening and energy shifts in the absorption spectra, which we demonstrate to be captured by electron repopulation respectively correlation-induced modifications of the electronic structure, requiring to take the local Coulomb interaction into account.