  The intended use of a magnetic material, from information storage to power
conversion, depends crucially on its domain structure, traditionally crafted
during materials synthesis. By contrast, we show that an external magnetic
field applied transverse to the preferred magnetization of a model disordered
uniaxial ferromagnet is an isothermal regulator of domain pinning. At elevated
temperatures, near the transition into the paramagnet, modest transverse fields
increase the pinning, stabilize the domain structure, and harden the magnet,
until a point where the field induces quantum tunneling of the domain walls and
softens the magnet. At low temperatures, tunneling completely dominates the
domain dynamics and provides an interpretation of the quantum phase transition
in highly disordered magnets as a localization/delocalization transition for
domain walls. While the energy scales of the rare earth ferromagnet studied
here restrict the effects to cryogenic temperatures, the principles discovered
are general and should be applicable to existing classes of highly anisotropic
ferromagnets with ordering at room temperature or above.
