Concurrent Magneto-Optical Imaging And Magneto-Transport Readout Of Electrical Switching Of Insulating Antiferromagnetic Thin Films

We demonstrate stable and reversible current induced switching of large-area (>100 mu m(2)) antiferromagnetic domains in NiO/Pt by performing concurrent transport and magneto-optical imaging measurements in an adapted Kerr microscope. By correlating the magnetic images of the antiferromagnetic domain changes and magneto-transport signal response in these current-induced switching experiments, we disentangle magnetic and non-magnetic contributions to the transport signal. Our table-top approach establishes a robust procedure to subtract the non-magnetic contributions in the transport signal and extract the spin-Hall magnetoresistance response associated with the switching of the antiferromagnetic domains, enabling one to deduce details of the antiferromagnetic switching from simple transport measurements.