Extraordinary magnetization behavior of single crystalline TbFe₄.4Al₇.6

We report the observation of a field-induced transformation from the easy-plane antiferromagnetic structure to the easy-axis ferrimagnetic structure in a single crystal of TbFe_4.4Al_7.6 (tetragonal ThMn_12 structure) at 5 K. Such a field-induced, irreversible transition has been identified for the first time. This transition is accompanied by a giant orthorhombic distortion: epsilon_aa = - epsilon_bb ~ 3.5x10^-4 that is associated with a magnetic hardness (mu_0H_C ~ 3 T) that is unprecedented in this category of materials.