Abstract
A TbFe5Al7 single crystal (tetragonal crystal structure of the ThMn12 type) has been studied in magnetic fields up to 14 T. The compound is a ferrimagnet with the Curie temperature T-C = 242 K.
A compensation of the Tb and Fe sublattices is observed at T-comp = 84 K. TbFe5Al7 displays strong easy-plane anisotropy.
Anisotropy is also present within the basal plane practically in the whole temperature range of the magnetically-ordered state. The easy magnetization direction is the [1 0 0] axis at low temperatures.
A spin-reorientation transition occurs within the basal plane from [1 0 0] to [1 1 0], presumably in the vicinity of the compensation temperature. At T T-comp there are transitions observed along the [1 1 0] axis.
The critical fields H-cr of the transitions along both axes tend to zero upon approaching T = T-comp. A diagram in the coordinates H-cr-T has been plotted for a magnetic field up to 14 T.
At low temperatures very strong magnetic hysteresis is observed, a field of 141 is not sufficiently strong to magnetize the sample at T = 2 K along the [1 0 0] axis.