  A new expression for the branching ratio for the decay via the E1 process in
the normal-deformed band of superdeformed nuclei is given within a simple
two-level model. Using this expression, the spreading or tunneling width
Gamma^downarrow for superdeformed decay can be expressed entirely in terms of
experimentally known quantities. We show how to determine the tunneling matrix
element V from the measured value of Gamma^downarrow and a statistical model of
the energy levels. The accuracy of the two-level approximation is verified by
considering the effects of the other normal-deformed states.
