Analysis of ultrafast electronic and magnetic response of ferromagnetic transition metals

We study the ultrafast dynamics of the electronic and magnetic properties o f ferromagnetic transition metals after optical excitation. The time scales are given by the fast electronic response leading to thermalization of the electronic distribution and consequently also of the magnetization. We pro pose a theoretical model describing thermalization of nonequilibrium electr ons and calculate the time evolution of the temperature and the magnetizati on-dependent second-harmonic generation. We compare our theoretical analysi s with experimental results on Ni.