Ultrafast magnetic moment transfer and bandgap renormalization in monolayer FeCl$_2$

Abstract

The microscopic origin of laser-induced ultrafast demagnetization remains an open question, to which the non-thermal electronic distribution plays a vital role at the initial stage. Herein, we investigate the connection between the non-thermal electronic distribution and the ultrafast spin dynamics as well as the electronic structure evolution in ferromagnetic FeCl$_2$ monolayer using real-time time-dependent density functional theory (rt-TDDFT) with self-consistent Hubbard $U$ correction. Our simulations reveal that femtosecond laser pulses induce ultrafast magnetic moment transfer from Fe to Cl atoms. More importantly, through a comprehensive analysis of orbital-resolved electronic structure, we elucidate the microscopic origin of this transfer, attributing it to specific intra-atomic and inter-atomic charge transfer pathways driven by non-thermal excitations. The extent of demagnetization of Fe atoms exhibits a non-monotonic dependence on the laser photon energy, reaching a maximum at the resonant excitation. In addition, the dynamical evolution of the band structure was studied based on the eigenstates of the instantaneous Hamiltonian. Under resonant excitation, the bandgap reduction reaches up to $41\%$ within tens of fs. These findings provide fundamental insights into ultrafast spin control and suggest a strategy to optically engineer the magnetism in two-dimensional magnetic materials.