Laser-induced ultrafast demagnetization is a phenomenon of utmost interest and attracts significant attention because it enables potential applications in ultrafast optoelectronics and spintronics. As a spin–orbit coupling assisted magnetic insulator, α-RuCl₃ provides an attractive platform to explore the physics of electronic correlations and unconventional magnetism. Using time-dependent density functional theory, we explore the ultrafast laser-induced dynamics of the electronic and magnetic structures in α-RuCl₃. Our study unveils that laser pulses can introduce ultrafast demagnetizations, accompanied by an out-of-equilibrium insulator-to-metal transition in a few tens of femtoseconds. The spin response significantly depends on the laser wavelength and polarization on account of the electron correlations, band renormalizations, and charge redistributions. These findings provide physical insights into the coupling between the electronic and magnetic degrees of freedom in α-RuCl₃ and shed light on suppressing the long-range magnetic orders and reaching a proximate spin liquid phase for two-dimensional magnets on an ultrafast time scale.

中文翻译：

---

α-RuCl3 中的超快自旋动力学和光致绝缘体到金属的转变

激光诱导的超快退磁是一种最令人感兴趣的现象，并引起了极大的关注，因为它在超快光电子学和自旋电子学中具有潜在的应用。作为一种自旋轨道耦合辅助磁绝缘体，α-RuCl ₃为探索电子关联和非常规磁性物理提供了一个有吸引力的平台。利用瞬态密度泛函理论，我们探索了 α-RuCl ₃中电子和磁性结构的超快激光诱导动力学。我们的研究表明，激光脉冲可以引入超快退磁，并在几十飞秒内伴随着不平衡的绝缘体到金属的转变。由于电子相关性、能带重整化和电荷重新分布，自旋响应很大程度上取决于激光波长和偏振。_{这些发现为 α-RuCl 3}中电子和磁自由度之间的耦合提供了物理见解，并揭示了在超快时间尺度上抑制长程磁序并达到二维磁体的邻近自旋液相。