The effect of the interface-driven magnetic optical (MO) manipulation on Pt/Yttrium iron garnet (YIG) and Cu/YIG has been investigated using energy-resolved magnetic circular dichroism (ER-MCD) system. By mapping the spatial MCD at different excitation energies, the results indicate manipulation of the spin-polarized electronic structure of YIG through interface charge transfer. Specifically, compared to the Cu/YIG region, we found that the Pt/YIG region exhibited a higher level of MCD enhancement and even a pronounced MCD sign inversion at certain excitation energies. In contrast, the saturation moment of the Pt-covered YIG film decreased significantly, while the enhancement was only slight for the Cu-covered YIG film. Based on the first-principles calculations, the presence of distinct polarized interface states of tetrahedral Fe ions in metal/YIG systems results in conflicting observations regarding optical and magnetic proximity effects. We present evidence that ER-MCD can effectively reveal dominant spin-polarized optical transitions in ferrimagnetic (FIM) materials, providing direct access to the polarized interface states in the nonmagnetic metal (NM)/FIM heterosystem. This capability opens opportunities to manipulate and customize the magneto–optical effect with energy resolution for various applications in magneto-optics.
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