Abstract
We studied the magnetization dynamics of gadolinium metal after femtosecond laser excitation recording the x-ray magnetic circular dichroism in reflection (XMCD-R) at the Gd M5 absorption edge. Varying the photon energy of the pump pulse allows us to change the initial energy distribution of photoexcited carriers. The overall similar response for excitation with 0.95, 1.55 and 3.10 eV photons at comparable pump fluences indicates that ultrafast ballistic carrier transport leads to a homogeneous energy distribution on the femtosecond timescale in the probed sample volume. Differences are observed in the initial ultrafast demagnetization magnitude. They are attributed to an enhanced spin-flip probability at higher electron energies characterizing the non-thermal electron distribution.
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