  Photo-excitation in complex oxides1 transfers charge across semicovalent
bonds, drastically perturbing spin and orbital orders2. Light may then be used
in compounds like magnetoresistive manganites to control magnetism on nanometre
lengthscales and ultrafast timescales. Here, we show how ultrafast resonant
soft x-ray diffraction can separately probe the photo-induced dynamics of spin
and orbital orders in La0.5Sr1.5MnO4. Ultrafast melting of CE antiferromagnetic
spin order is evidenced by the disappearance of a (1/4,1/4,1/2) diffraction
peak. On the other hand the (1/4,1/4,0) peak, reflecting orbital order, is only
partially reduced. Cluster calculations aid our interpretation by considering
different magnetically ordered states accessible after photo-excitation.
Nonthermal coupling between light and magnetism emerges as a primary aspect of
photo-induced phase transitions in manganites.
