Femtosecond electron and spin dynamics in ferromagnetic Ni probed by UV and soft X-ray pulses

Experiments are reviewed which extend ultraviolet photoemission and soft X-ray absorption spectroscopy to the femtosecond (fs) time domain. We show for the case of ferromagnetic Ni that the evolution of electronic temperature, exchange coupling, spin and orbital angular momentum following fs optical laser excitation can be individually probed. This provides new insights into ultrafast processes which involve energy and angular momentum transfer between charge, spin and lattice degrees of freedom.