Full angular dependence of the spin Hall and ordinary magnetoresistance in epitaxial antiferromagnetic NiO(001)/Pt thin films

Electrical readout of the orientation of an antiferromagnet by detecting the N\'eel vector is necessary to exploit this class of materials for applications. Here, the authors study bilayers of thin films of the epitaxial antiferromagnetic insulator NiO(001) and the heavy metal Pt. The observed three-dimensional angular dependence of the spin Hall magnetoresistance (SMR) is analyzed, considering the reversible field-induced redistribution of magnetostrictive antiferromagnetic S and T domains in the NiO(001). The authors find that a careful subtraction of the ordinary magnetoresistance contribution in Pt is crucial to determine the SMR amplitude and thus the N\'eel vector average orientation.