Experimental upper bound on superradiance emission from Mn12 acetate -: art. no. 140403

We used a Josephson junction as a radiation detector to look for evidence of the emission of electromagnetic radiation during magnetization avalanches in a crystal assembly of Mn-12 acetate. The crystal assembly exhibits avalanches at several magnetic fields in the temperature range from 1.8 to 2.6 K with durations of the order of 1 ms. Although a recent study shows evidence of electromagnetic radiation bursts during these avalanches [J. Tejada , Appl. Phys. Lett. 84, 2373 (2004)], we were unable to detect any significant radiation at well-defined frequencies. A control experiment with external radiation pulses allows us to determine that the energy released as radiation during an avalanche is less than one part in 10(4) of the total energy released. In addition, our avalanche data indicates that the magnetization reversal process does not occur uniformly throughout the sample.