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Electrical switching of N\'eel order in an antiferromagnetic insulator isdesirable as a basis for memory applications. Unlike electrically-drivenswitching of ferromagnetic order via spin-orbit torques, electrical switchingof antiferromagnetic order remains poorly understood. Here we investigate thelow-field magnetic properties of 30 nm thick, c-axis oriented$\alpha$-Fe$_2$O$_3$ Hall devices using a diamond nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centerscanning microscope. Using the canted moment of $\alpha$-Fe$_2$O$_3$ as amagnetic handle on its N\'eel vector, we apply a saturating in-plane magneticfield to create a known initial state before letting the state relax in lowfield for magnetic imaging. We repeat this procedure for different in-planeorientations of the initialization field. We find that the magnetic fieldimages are characterized by stronger magnetic textures for fields along$[\bar{1}\bar{1}20]$ and $[11\bar{2}0]$, suggesting that despite the expected3-fold magneto-crystalline anisotropy, our $\alpha$-Fe$_2$O$_3$ thin films havean overall in-plane uniaxial anisotropy. We also study current-inducedswitching of the magnetic order in $\alpha$-Fe$_2$O$_3$. We find that thefraction of the device that switches depends on the current pulse duration,amplitude and direction relative to the initialization field. Specifically, wefind that switching is most efficient when current is applied along thedirection of the initialization field.

Current-induced switching of thin film $\alpha$-Fe$_2$O$_3$ devices imaged using a scanning single-spin microscope