Microwave pulse transparency in Flux-qubit based superconducting quantum metamaterial

Abstract

We consider the propagation of a classical microwave pulse through a simple setup of a quantum metamaterial composed of a large number of three-Josephson-junction flux qubits. We find that population inversion and electromagnetic waves propagate together as two-component nonlinear waves, exhibiting distinct features depending on the initial preparation of the qubit subsystem and the strength of the "matter"-light interaction. Three different regimes are observed. In the limit of weak nonlinearity, when all qubits are initially prepared in either the clockwise or counterclockwise persistent current state, population inversion undergoes coherent Rabi-like oscillations, with a complete transfer between these two opposite states. As nonlinearity approaches unity, the transition dynamics lose their oscillatory nature, and the system rapidly becomes frozen in a state of zero population inversion, where each qubit is trapped in a superposition with equal probabilities of clockwise and counterclockwise polarity. In the overcritical regime, population inversion exhibits pulsating behavior, but without complete transfer. In the extreme coupling limit, population inversion undergoes small-amplitude oscillations around its initial value, while the pulse amplitude oscillates around zero, indicating pulse stopping.