  The exchange interaction among electrons is one of the most fundamental
quantum mechanical interactions in nature and underlies any magnetic phenomena
from ferromagnetic ordering to magnetic storage. The current technology is
built upon a thermal or magnetic field, but a frontier is emerging to directly
control magnetism using ultrashort laser pulses. However, little is known about
the fate of the exchange interaction. Here we report unambiguously that
photoexcitation is capable of quenching the exchange interaction in all three
$3d$ ferromagnetic metals. The entire process starts with a small number of
photoexcited electrons which build up a new and self-destructive potential that
collapses the system into a new state with a reduced exchange splitting. The
spin moment reduction follows a Bloch-like law as $M_z(\Delta
E)=M_z(0)(1-{\Delta E}/{\Delta E_0})^{\frac{1}{\beta}}$, where $\Delta E$ is
the absorbed photon energy and $\beta$ is a scaling exponent. A good agreement
is found between the experimental and our theoretical results. Our findings may
have a broader implication for dynamic electron correlation effects in
laser-excited iron-based superconductors, iron borate, rare-earth
orthoferrites, hematites and rare-earth transition metal alloys.
